Work Comp Safety Week
Our Work Comp Safety Week begins with DBM’s from our new safety consultant Glen DuLac. We began the discussion on DBM’s last week.
DBM’s (Dominant Buying Motivators) can be applied to the HR function in most companies.
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Based on my experience, the DBM of knowledge and experience is the least frequent of the four DBMs. The fact of the matter is that very few technical questions are asked in job interviews and even rarer are subject matter test given. In most cases, interviewers never took notes.
For the reader who wants to draw a line in the sand and stop wasting his or her time on dysfunctional interviews, I provide the following list of red flags. If a company refuses to do a phone interview, they may be dysfunctional, if the panel consist of more than three people they may be dysfunctional, if you are requires to go on more than three interviews, consider them dysfunctional, if the opening is continually in the newspaper or on the internet, consider them dysfunctional, if they have no time line as to when they will make the appointment, they are probably dysfunctional, if they have not written questions to ask they are dysfunctional, if they don’t make a record of your answers they are dysfunctional and they are stupid. Finally a company that only uses interviews for selection is very naive and probably dysfunctional.
One of the most profound changes in recruitment has been the internet. Twelve years ago, most help wanted recruitments were in the newspaper. The typical response was by mail or by fax. Now the Sunday classifieds is 1/3 of its former size. Most ads are on Monster or Hot Jobs. With e-mail it is easy to send your resume to scores of potential employers. However, this ease is really a curse.
In California, a recruiter will get 300 or 400 responses for a Safety Manager position. It is far too easy for an unqualified person to gin up a nice resume and send it to a thousand employers every year. Because the interview process is so inexact, many unqualified people get hired purely on their interview skills.
We live in an age of standards, ISO 9000, ISO 14000, TQM, benchmarking, best management practices and more. Despite all of these standards no one has devised a good model for recruitment and selection. Therefore, I will propose a reasonable model of hiring, it can be used by any company who is forward thinking enough to detach from the interview process.
First: All responses to ads must be returned to the hiring company
in the form of an individualized letter, stating why a candidate wants
the position and why the candidate feels that they are qualified.
The response would be by US mail and there would be a deadline give
in the recruitment ad.
Second: Responses would be screened for minimum qualifications and
for writing ability.
Third: The candidates with the minimum qualifications and best writing
skills will be invited to take a subject matter test. The test would be
held on a Saturday or in the evening to maximize attendance. At
the time of the exam, attendance will be given a Job application to
fill out.
Fourth The top three to five test takers will be sent a release form allowing
the hiring company to check past employment and
verify education. If any one has exaggerated their education or job
history they will be rejected.
Fifth: The top scoring two or three persons who pass the background
checks will speak with the hiring manager either by phone or in
person. He will rank them in order of preference and state reasons
for his choices based on knowledge and accomplishments.
Sixth: Someone in Human Resources will review the files on the top few
candidates and the notes of the hiring manager to help verify what
were his selection criteria.
Seventh: An offer will be made.
Some of the keys to the process are deadlines and the subject matter test. What a novel idea, hiring someone who can objectively demonstrate knowledge about his or her profession. Another, element to this process is the option of doing a phone conversation with the hiring manager. In other words, if the candidate wants to do a phone meeting they are allowed to do so. This is positive because the hiring manager will not be distracted buy the physical appearance of the candidate.
The benefits of using this model for hiring mid managers are many: reduced turnover, increased productivity by hiring people who have demonstrable knowledge and reduced litigation because you have minimized poor employment selection practices.
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There will be more on this subject later in our Work Comp Safety Week.
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