LOU ADLER is CEO and Founder of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems, a firm that shows recruiters and hiring managers around the world how to source, interview, and hire the strongest and most diverse talent. He is the author of Hire with Your Head and The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired.

FOREWORD 8

INTRODUCTION PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING FOUR EDITIONS LATER 9

A Short History on the Importance of Hiring Top Talent 9

Being More Efficient Doing the Wrong Things Is Not Progress 10

Creating a Win-Win Hiring Culture 11

The Big Three Hiring Challenges 12

Clarifying Job Expectations Upfront Is the Key to Hiring Outstanding People 12

Why Performance-based Hiring Is the Right Business Process for Hiring 13

CHAPTER 1 DEFINE YOUR TALENT STRATEGY BEFORE YOU DESIGN YOUR HIRING PROCESS 16

Stop Making Tactical Excuses for a Strategic Problem 16

The Importance of Having the Right Talent Strategy 17

Supply vs Demand Needs to Drive Talent Strategy 17

Comparing the Scarcity of Talent vs a Surplus of Talent Strategies 19

Win-Win Hiring: Hiring for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date 20

Develop an Ideal Candidate Persona to Achieve More Win-Win Hiring Outcomes 20

Remove the "HAVING" Mindset and Shift to a Performance Qualified Screening Standard 21

Negotiate with the End in Mind 22

More High Touch and Less High Tech -- Convert Strangers into Acquaintances 23

CHAPTER 2 STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE-BASED HIRING PROCESS 24

Win-Win Hiring: Hire for the Anniversary Date, Not the Start Date 24

Performance-based Hiring Is Designed to Raise the Bar 24

Suboptimization Prevents Win-Win Hiring Outcomes 24

Benchmarking How the Best People Find Jobs and Get Hired 25

Hiring a Great Person Starts with a Great Job 25

Define Success as Performance Objectives, Not Skills and Experiences 26

Source Semi-finalists 26

Conduct the Two-way Performance-based Interview 27

Measure and Predict Quality of Hire 28

Close on Career Growth, Not Compensation Maximization 29

Use Onboarding to Clarify and Prioritize the Performance Objectives 30

Deliver on the Promise 31

Summary 32

CHAPTER 3 THE BEST CANDIDATES ARE OFTEN NOT THE BEST HIRES 33

The Worst Candidates Are Often the Best Hires 34

Category 1: Great candidates must have all of the basic skills listed on the job description 34

Category 2: Great candidates must agree to the terms of an offer before knowing the job 35

Category 3: Great candidates need to be prepared, make a great first impression and be good at presenting themselves 35

Some Great Candidates Become Great Hires, but Many More Don't 36

Great Hires Are Easy to Define but Hard to Hire 36

Category 4: Great hires deliver the results without making excuses 36

Category 5: Great hires collaborate with others and build strong teams 37

Category 6: Great hires effectively organize and manage themselves and their teams 37

Who would you rather hire, a great candidate or someone who delivers the results? 38

Summary -- Avoid the 90-day Wonders 38

CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPING A BIAS-FREE HIRING PROCESS 40

Conduct a Pre-hire Performance Review 40

Never Meet Anyone in Person Before Conducting a Phone Screen 41

Only invite semi-finalists for the full interview 41

Use Organized Panel Interviews 42

Then eliminate the 30-minute one-on-ones 42

Script the Interview and Give Candidates the Questions 42

Wait 30 Minutes Before Making Any Yes or No Decision 43

Be a Juror -- Not a Judge 43

Use Reverse Logic to Reveal and Reprogram Your Subconscious Biases 44

Treat Candidates as Consultants 44

Kill the Gladiators 45

Use a talent scorecard to share evidence 45

Measure First Impressions Last 46

Summary 46

CHAPTER 5 USING THE BEST TEST TO REDUCE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS 47

Two Huge Flaws in Personality Assessments That Are Often Ignored 47

Statistical Validation Understates the Impact of False Negatives 48

Personality Assessments Are Valuable When Used Later in the Hiring Process 49

Take the BEST Test Before Interviewing Anyone 50

Changes in BEST Style Reveals Growth and Flexibility 51

Assess Team Skills by Observing Changes in BEST Type Over Time 51

Assess Flexibility by Observing Changes in BEST Under Stress 52

Increase Interview Accuracy by Becoming Your "Least BEST" 52

Summary -- Use the BEST Test to Confirm Rather Than Predict 53

CHAPTER 6 THE HIRING FORMULA FOR SUCCESS 54

Win-Win Hiring Begins with the End in Mind 54

Predicting Hiring Success Requires Much More Than Assessing Ability 54

The Hiring Formula for Success Captures the Dynamics of Actual Performance 56

The Big Four Fit Factors Drive Motivation to Excel 57

Define the Fit Factors as Part of the Job Description 57

The Fit Factors and Their Impact on Job Performance 58

The Impact of Managerial Fit on New Hire Success 59

Job Fit: Intrinsic Motivation to Do the Work Actually Required 59

Team Fit and EQ 60

Cultural Fit is More Than a Value Statement 60

Summary 61

CHAPTER 7 UNDERSTANDING THE REAL JOB STARTS WITH A PERFORMANCE PROFILE 62

Define the Work Before Defining the Person Doing the Work 62

Hire for Performance to Attract Outstanding Talent 63

The Legal Validation for Using Performance-based Hiring 64

Shifting to a Performance Qualified Definition of On-the-Job Success 65

Different Techniques to Develop Performance-based Job Descriptions 67

Take a Tour of the Factory and Call Me in the Morning 68

Basic Techniques for Determining the Key Performance Objectives 69

Use the Process of Success and the Timeline to Determine the Key Subtasks 69

Benchmark the Best People Doing the Same Job 70

Convert "Having" to "Doing" 71

Use the Four Work Types to Map Performance Objectives to the Company Lifecycle 73

Use the Master Checklist to Develop the KPOs 74

Job Branding -- Creating the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) 76

Prioritize the Performance Objectives 77

Convincing Hiring Managers to Use Performance Profiles 77

The "no time" rebuttal 77

The "When are you going to tell the candidate?" approach 78

The "become a top manager" rebuttal 78

Conduct an "A vs B" test 78

Tell some stories about people who have been promoted 78

Dealing with the diehards 78

Summary 79

CHAPTER 8 CONDUCTING THE EXPLORATORY PHONE SCREEN 81

The Exploratory Phone Screen Drives Hiring Success 81

The Phone Screen Is the "Swiss Army Knife" of Hiring 82

With a Phone Screen You Only Need 3-4 Semi-finalists to Make One Great Hire 83

Use the Phone Screen to Find and Recruit Semi-finalists 83

Conducting the Phone Screen Work History Review 85

Semi-finalists Must Answer These Two Questions 85

Assess the comparability of the accomplishments to the KPOs 86

Connect the two accomplishments to see the trend of performance over time 87

Determine if the person is recruitable 87

Summary -- Use the Phone Screen to Control Your Entire Hiring Process 88

CHAPTER 9 CONDUCTING THE PERFORMANCE-BASED INTERVIEW 89

Checklist: The Performance-based Hiring Interviewing Process 89

The 8-Step Performance-based Interview Guide 91

Step 1: Introduction, Review Job and Discover Motivation for Looking 91

Step 2: Put Your Biases in the Parking Lot by Measuring the Impact of First Impression 93

Step 3: Conduct a Work History Review 94

Step 4: Assess 2-3 Major Accomplishments 95

Step 4a: Assess 1-2 Major Team Accomplishments 97

Step 5: Assess Critical Thinking and Job-related Problem-solving Skills 98

Step 6: Delay the Candidate's Questions Until the End of the Interview 100

Step 7: Determine Candidate Interest and Recruiting Opportunity 101

Step 8: Measure First Impression Again, Last and Compare 103

You can never out-yell a hiring manager, but you can out-fact them 104

Well-organized Panel Interviews Increase Assessment Accuracy 105

The Big Reasons Candidates Should Be Interviewed by a Panel 106

Steps for Organizing a Panel Interview 107

Have all interviewers on the panel review the performance-based job description and the talent scorecard before the interview session starts 107

Script the Performance-based Interview to use as an organizing tool 107

It's vital that there is only one leader in a panel interview with everyone else acting as fact-finders only 107

Leaders can be fact-finders, but fact-finders can't be leaders 108

Capture everyone's insight right after the interview 108

Key Highlights of the Performance-based Interview Process 108

CHAPTER 10 MAKING THE ASSESSMENT USING THE QUALITY OF HIRE TALENT SCORECARD 110

Keys for Conducting an Evidence-based Candidate Assessment 110

Understanding the 1-5 Ranking System 111

Share Evidence in a Live Formal Debriefing Session 111

Invoke the NO 2s! Rule to Raise the Talent Bar 112

The NO 2s! Warning Signs for Each Factor 112

Step-by-Step Completing the Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard 114

Basic Competencies 114

Core Skills 114

Overall Experience 114

Achiever Pattern and Trend of Growth 115

Essential Core Competences 116

Situational Fit Factors 117

How to Accurately Predict Managerial Fit and Ensure a Great Hire 118

Culture & Environmental Fit 118

Addressing the Balancing Act Between Recruitability and Competency 120

Organizing the Interview to Maximize Assessment Accuracy 120

Modification for Problem-Solving 121

Modification for Team Skills 121

Summary 121

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