You Just Can’t Find Good Employees – Part 4

By Action Coach Dave Beam

Today we finish our series on team recruitment.  If you have been following the steps, you are ready for the climatic event in hiring – the group interview. 

If you have successfully followed the process, you have invited 10 – 15 (or even more) potential candidates to a meeting.  These candidates have been “de-selected” from a larger pool of people calling in response to your up-front marketing efforts. 
They have been instructed to come at a precise time and location, come dressed appropriate for the job they are seeking, bring a resume and three references.  If any of them fail to come on time, dress appropriately, or bring the requested information, they are also de-selected.

You greet the candidates, provide name tags, and take them to the meeting room.  You, as the owner of the business, open the meeting by thanking them and then share the history of the business.  You also share your company mission, vision, and values.  Then you have the direct team leader that will be holding this person accountable share about the job requirements and expectations, and describe what kind of “boss” they will be to work for.  You also will have one or two peer team members share what it is like to work at your company and on this team.  During this time, you are observing the candidates and their interest and response.  Finally, you share the benefits of this opportunity and ask if anyone has questions about the position.  After the questions are answered, you tell everyone you are going to take a 15 minute break and anyone not interested in the position if free to leave (another point of de-selection).

For the candidates that stay, your reassemble, and then ask each of them to share a little about them self and what impressed them about the meeting so far.  You can also have each person pick a question to answer from a hat.  These questions should be designed to address heart and spirit issues. (Ex. “What are your two most prominent strengths in life?”)

Finally, you divide your team into two or three interview groups. Each group then interviews each candidate for no more than 5 – 10 minutes.  Each interview group should ask 3-5 questions and then ask the candidates if they have any comments or questions.  You can also have each candidate fill out a simple application and take any behavioral style tests or skill tests, depending on the nature of the job.

After the candidates leave, your recruiting team assembles and you rank each candidate.  My experience is that you will all be fairly close in your rankings.  You then check out the references and resume of the top candidate, and make an offer.

That’s it – and it really does work well.  I would love to coach you and your team through this process, because YOU CAN FIND GOOD EMPLOYEES!!!