I was prescribed a round of Prednisolone, a drug that is taken in decreasing doses each day. The instructions read that dosing is variable, and my doctor recommended that I take all six pills at once on the first day, then five the next, etc.
In its own quirky way, it reminded me of an onboarding schedule. You need to front-load your time and information, gradually pulling back on the amount of intervention needed. Hopefully, by the end of the orientation period (which, unlike these pills, should last longer than six days!), the new employee will be equipped to work independently, with only intermittent assistance from you.
Not everything should be distributed in equal doses. Take care in determining which dosage schedule aligns with the need.
There is no perfect candidate, leaving us to hire someone who has some limitations. Ideally, some of those moments of hesitation will display themselves in the interview or reference check process, allowing the hiring manager to weigh the pros and cons before making an offer.
Too often, supervisors “hope” that their fears will be unrealized and everything will turn out well. They don’t want to bring up negatives, so they don’t say anything to the candidate/new employee. A better way to facilitate that process is to be very candid up front with the candidate about the weaknesses others saw in the interview and the concerns you have. It will give you shorthand to quickly refer to the initial “these are the hesitations” conversation you had at the start, allowing you to nip the behavior in the bud as soon as it is observed on the job.
Pay attention to your gut and be clear about your misgivings. It’s much easier to heed red flags and take precautions than it is to drag someone out of the water.
The City of San Diego, California, has employed a herd of 300 goats to help remove dry vegetation as a fire prevention measure. The goats devour brush in difficult to reach areas and have been serving as “official fire safety goats” since 2021.
Can the City’s use of goats inspire you to think of additional ways to accomplish your work without hiring new staff? Maybe you can prompt one of the AI models to handle some of your processes. Perhaps outsourcing can save resources. You could consider hiring an intern or apprentice, or partnering with a college on a class project. And, of course, there’s always the option to rethink the work you do and to eliminate aspects of it that are not contributing value.
There always seems to be more work and fewer people to do it. Get creative about how you can accomplish your goals in nontraditional ways.
Originally published in modified form on April 5, 2018. Repeated here as it is the 25th anniversary of this dinner — something that proved to be life-changing for me.
How do you make a lasting impression on a candidate? Go meet them in person. This happened to me on this date in 2001, when my eventual boss called me up in Detroit and asked if he could meet me (for the first time) for dinner that night to talk about a job I had applied for. Impressive enough, but more so given that he lived in St. Louis.
Keith flew up to the Motor City, we had dinner, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sure, I went through the obligatory campus interview and did all the other standard things in the hiring process, but that day was when the real decision was made.
Keith said all the finalists had the right qualifications, but at this stage, it all came down to chemistry. Was I a fit with him and vice versa? The only way to tell is to spend time together in person. He invested time on the front end, and the fit was so good that we still talk every year on April 5, even though he has long retired and it is (now 25) years later.
Maybe you aren’t as fortunate as Keith to have the ability to go to dinner on the home turf of all your candidates, but you do have the option to spend time alone with them when they come to interview or to have multiple conversations before a hiring decision is made.
You don’t marry someone after the first date, even if you like them. One quick Q and A with someone isn’t enough to know whether the hiring match is right, either.
(he forgot his business cards, so he wrote his contact info on his boarding pass!)
It’s a tricky and important job to assemble a board, committee, or task force. You try to balance demographics and pay attention to constituent representation. You need expertise, but don’t want everyone so entrenched in the status quo that they are unable to innovate. You want thinkers, but may also need “doers”. You may strive to have certain skills present, but you may also want to give new voices a seat. And you need to keep the group to a manageable number, or they’ll spend as much time finding a time to meet as they spend doing the work.
One tool to help with this task is an attribute list. I wrote about this (dot #684a) as it relates to interviewing and hiring, but it works just as well to define committee composition. Rather than picking people based on history, position, or interest, take a few moments to write out the key characteristics you are seeking in your group. You may even create a matrix, as each member will likely meet several needs (e.g., skills, demographics, etc.).
Not that a committee compiled by popularity, legacy, or random selection would necessarily be bad, but one chosen with intentionality is likely to be much stronger. Give your ad hoc “hiring” as much attention as you do permanent spots by clarifying in advance the role you are trying to fill.
When in Las Vegas, I couldn’t help but think about the infrastructure required to keep the Strip functioning. There are over 160,000 hotel rooms alone — all of which require registration, housekeeping, maintenance, laundry, trash removal, pool attendants, etc. All the casinos need dealers, bartenders, finance support, housekeeping, compliance monitors, and more. The city welcomes over 40 million visitors each year, requiring transportation, entertainment, food, and necessities. I wondered where they get the immense staff to serve all these needs.
It turns out there is a separate industry to handle the human resources aspects of the town. Giant “employment centers” have ongoing recruiting, hiring, and training for the hundreds (thousands?) of new employees. Entire parking garages are for “employees only.” Instead of being an afterthought, the people side of the business is a business in its own right.
While you likely don’t have the volume to create a separate employment center, you can see HR as an integral function and the search for talent as an ongoing pursuit. You are only as good as your people. Be on the continual lookout for those who can help you achieve your mission and dreams.
I imagine it is difficult to attract workers to fast-food jobs, and that many who work there don’t see it as a long-term career, causing ongoing recruitment challenges.
Instead of just recruiting for the front-line worker at 19 bucks an hour, Popeye’s attempted to change mindsets by posting a banner listing the salaries for those who stick with the restaurant and aspire to managerial positions. It shows a career ladder where team members start at $41k but can earn $100k+ salaries if they become a general manager or an operations partner. There may be people who had not considered a restaurant career or who had not envisioned it was possible to make six figures at Popeye’s, but who become interested after seeing this data. I know I did a double-take!
Consider your long-term objective and then share that data in a way that communicates the information through the eyes of the receiver, not the sender. Frying chicken could seem more palatable if you knew it was the first step to a lucrative career.
A colleague was pondering whether or not to go on a job interview. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to leave or whether this was the position she should pursue. My advice: “Try on the dress.” I recalled to her the countless times that I had seen beautiful clothing in stores that looked great on the model, but not so well on me. Had I left the store without trying them on, I would have that waft of regret or lingering wonder. But once I stood in front of the mirror, I was quite content in leaving the clothes on the rack. I believe that sometimes the best thing to do is to go a little further to try something out. Go on the interview. Demo that product. Attend that workshop. Talk to that banker. Accept that blind date. Babysit that puppy. You’ll know with far more certainty whether or not it fits than you ever would have known by just speculating about it.
Originally published in modified form on August 5, 2012
Materials for my puppy’s “onboarding” could serve as a model for supervisors and human resource managers!
The social media algorithm learned that I have a new puppy, and suddenly my feed is full of training programs, food options, and cute golden retriever videos. One of the most helpful resources came from the American Kennel Club. Although my Zoe is not AKC registered, I was still able to sign up for a free “Pupdate newsletter” by sharing her age and breed. Now, every week, I receive a tailored email that has been spot-on accurate about the challenges I’m facing and offers tips to address them in training. It’s just enough to be helpful and manageable — providing me with actionable information when I need it.
Think about adapting this format for human onboarding. Instead of inundating new employees with an overwhelming manual or packed schedule, provide weekly, bite-sized information that is targeted to the experiences expected at that time. You can acknowledge likely frustrations and provide resources to resolve them.
The Pupdate email starts with “Sit. Stay. Read this.” By utilizing a similar cadence for your new employee orientation, your team members may actually do that as well.
I have a friend who has been interviewing for the same job for two months. He went to multiple in-person interviews, plus had to do a presentation, but still has not finished the process. The company is a 9-5, in-person only, formal dress kind of place — and that, combined with their antiquated interviewing process, makes me think that they are less than progressive with their culture and way of operating.
And yet, in the latest interview, the vice president commented on how they were a fast-moving company that was able to pivot quickly. The misalignment between how they see themselves and how they act is a red flag. It’s one thing to work at a place that follows traditional practices, but worrisome when the leadership doesn’t realize that their human resources are anything but cutting edge.
It’s easy to get so used to the culture that you can’t see it from an external perspective. Counteract this by capitalizing on your new hires or using external groups to get a reality check on how you are perceived by those who aren’t ingrained in the organization. It’s ok to be a dinosaur, but not ok to be one and think you’re a cheetah.
Originally published in modified form on October 28, 2021
