Archives

Make Your New Year Balanced!

Ahh… New Year’s. The time when I get to annoy my wife with our annual goal setting sessions! I don’t think it is the goal setting that bothers her as much as the fact that I generally bring the topic up on New Year’s Eve. I think she feels there are better things to do on New Year’s Eve! I’m sure I will do better this year! It is proven that we are all terrible at achieving the goals we set each year. That is mostly because of three problems with traditional goal setting.   We set too many goals. We set our goals too high. Our goals push our life out of balance. Change is hard, which is why reason #1 and #2 are very important. Our willpower has limits, so we need to focus it on the change that... View Article

Wishing You and Yours a Very Merry Christmas!

Reference Interviews, Preventing Arthritis, The Love Dare

Business Reference Interviews Reference interviews are painful. It is hard to get the person that you need on the phone and even harder to get them to open up and be honest about the candidate. Why even bother? Because they are probably the most important interview you will do. If you have followed our hiring process so far, you have learned a lot about the candidate through an extensive interview process. They have spent significant time with the hiring manager (the person who will be their boss) and time with peers and even the hiring manager’s bosses. We have done everything we can do in an in-person interview to determine if this person has the skills and character needed to excel. But, sometimes we can still get snowed. That is why so many of us revert to hiring people we know... View Article

Reach Consensus on A Candidates, How to Avoid Cancer, Our Favorite Christmas Tradition

Business Candidate Discussion & Reaching Consensus You’ve now completed your phone interviews, which determined who came to the in-person interviews. The in-person interviews are complete and everyone who met the candidate has graded the candidate using their scorecard. Now the interviewing team comes together to compare their scores and decide which candidates make it to the next stage – the reference interview. Step 1 – Gather the Team – Gather everyone who was on the interviewing team and you can also invite everyone who had an opportunity to interact with the candidate. The entire interview team should be at the meeting. You can gather the scorecards from anyone else who cannot attend the discussion. The scorecards should contains scores and comments that can speak for the grader in their absence. Step 2 – Tally the Scores – Using a whiteboard... View Article

The 2nd In-Person Interview, 7 Ways to Reduce Stroke Risk, Sleeping at Work

Business The Second In-Person Interview The first in-person interview focused on determining if the candidate has the skills, experience and track record to be an A player on your team. The second interview of the day will focus on cultural fit and allow more of your team to get involved in the interview process. Peer interviewing is a big part of making great hires that will add to your culture. If you did not include a peer in the first interview, now is your chance. A lot of people struggle with adding peer interviewing to their process. Don’t be one of those people. Great companies like Southwest Airlines, Doubletree Hotels and Jetblue Airlines swear by the practice. Peer reviewing shows how much you value the contributions of your employees in strengthening your culture and gives them ownership of the new hires. It... View Article

In-Person Interviews, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol, Brotherly Love in Tri!

Business Preparing for the In Person Interview Now that your Phone Interviews are complete, you’ve narrowed your search to the top 2-3 candidates. It is time to invite them in for the on-site interview. The on-site interview is extremely time intensive which is why we are only inviting candidates that we believe are great fits. If you don’t have at least 2 great candidates at this stage you should repeat the earlier stages of the attract and filter process until you have at least two candidates to interview. Why do even more work to have at least two great candidates come to the on-site interview? You are tired and you want this position filled. Your readiness to fill the position combined with only having one candidate left will heavily influence you to look past the candidate’s flaws just to get... View Article

Why Phone Interviews are Key, Cholesterol – The Ratios Matter, 6 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness

Business The Beauty of a Phone Interview Last week we set up our Job Scorecard and scored the resumes of our applicants as we continue to search for the next A+ player for your team. This week, lets continue to push forward with our last filter before deciding who we invite to an in-person interview. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but understand that the cost of bad hire can be up to 15x their salary. Also, the in-person interview is the most costly and time consuming portion of your recruitment process, so we don’t want to waste those precious interviews on anyone who is not an excellent candidate to be an A+, long term member of your team. Phone interviews are a great tool to accomplish these goals.. Here is the why and how of phone... View Article

Interviewing the Best, Latest Cholesterol Rules, Buy Some Willpower

Business Last week we talked about how to create job advertisements that help applicants determine if your workplace and the job you are looking to fill is a great fit for them. Our goal is to give potential applicants enough information so they can take themselves out of your application process if they are not a good fit. You can review the three steps here. This week let’s discuss how to set up an effective screening system that allows you to filter through all the applications you receive to uncover the best talent. Create a Job Scorecard Too many firms start their search with a lengthy job description that is too long and full of vaguely defined outcomes. Don’t do this. Instead, start with a job scorecard. A scorecard is created by defining the outcomes that your amazing hire will produce... View Article

Filter out Poor Job Candidates, Next 10 Years in Health Tech, Culture of Appreciation

  Business Filtering Out Poor Job Candidates Over the past couple of weeks we have focused on creating and attracting great people to your “employer brand.” As a quick review, this means having a clear brand based on your organization’s Purpose, Vision and Core Values. A great career page focused on displaying your employer brand will be your best resource as you work to attract great talent. But, you will also be using more conventional advertisements to attract A players to your workplace. Too many applicants for an open position is a great problem to have! But, I recognize how much work it is to filter through those resumes. Today, I want to share with you three ways to help potential applicants rule themselves out of your recruitment process. Think of how much time you will save when applicants can determine for themselves that the... View Article

5 1/2 years??, Mindfulness for Strategy, It’s all about the right tools..

Hi , – I hope you’re having a great week. As a Christian business leader you want to accelerate your growth, profit, and witness in the marketplace (and build a better life!). Our goal is to bring you the best tips, tools, and techniques to do just that! Let’s get started! Business 5 1/2 Years?? Wow. The great folks from the Chamber of Commerce came out to our shop on Monday to honor us as the “Leading Business of the Week.” It is a great honor and we had a great time (see photo below). After I realized that you have to be a Chamber member for 5 years to receive this honor, it struck me. We’ve been in business 5.5 years! Again, wow. I started this business in March of 2011. I got married to my amazing wife in... View Article