PD Strategies Blog

Experience is not the most important factor to consider when hiring for most positions. In fact experience is a trailing indicator when it comes to predicting future success much like profits are a trailing indicator for corporate success. If you stop placing so much emphasis on experience in your hiring decisions you will start seeing less staff turnover and a more profitable company. Consider the fact that most failures and job terminations occur because of attitudes and behaviors. Since that is the case wouldn’t it be more important to look at values, attitudes, and behaviors in assessing a job candidate? If you look only at experience you might have too narrow a focus. I have noticed that those running businesses believe that their industry is different from others, so unique that the primary requirement is experience. Because of that mindset I have seen many bad candidates hired and many qualified candidates...

When hiring, although it is important to know a person’s acquired skills, it is probably more important to predict the person’s future performance and behavior. If you are not looking at behavior when you are interviewing you should be. Jim Collins and his team laid out the principle in the book Good to Great. It is as simple as “Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” It may be simple but it’s not easy. You will need to change the way you hire people. Here is a simple fact. I have found that many employers in Westchester County NY tend to make hiring decisions by looking at background in the industry, jobs held before, and job history. Many companies even do background checks. They spend a significant amount of time looking at a candidate’s skills and knowledge...

Contrary to what you may think education and skills do not create success. There is a saying that knowledge is power. That is also wrong. It is the application of knowledge that is power. In school teachers would say, “Johnny could be a great student if he would only apply himself.” With that being said why are we fixated on grades, degrees, and experience on resume when hiring people? In Good to Great Jim Collins explains that building a great organization is as simple as “Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” It may be simple but it’s not easy. You will need to change the way you hire people. Unfortunately, all too often managers tend to make hiring decisions by looking at background in the industry, jobs held before, and job history. Significant time is spent...

Your Westchester County NY business has grown and you realize you must hire your first employee. You are rightly concerned about bringing in a stranger and trusting that stranger to the business you have nurtured. You set out to hire the most qualified person but you feel more comfortable hiring a friend. Hiring someone because of friendship ignores the purpose for hiring someone in the first place—the fact that you need someone with specific qualifications to do a job. Jim Collin’s in his book “Good to Great” explains his research on how good companies become great companies. Collins surveyed companies and found that their greatness was not due to a special sauce or a great product but rather because of the people in the organization. It all starts with high quality, high performing employees. Collins refers to this as getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the...

Using assessment tests can help you identify the job candidates that are a best fit and would have greater probability of performing well in your company.   I am sure that you would agree that the proper screening and selection of candidates is critical to the success of your company. This success is due to the high performance of the right people in the right jobs. You gather all of the critical information in your interview.  The proper use of assessment tests can validate information that you have gathered from interviewing and reference checking. Many businesses make rushed hiring decisions. Unfortunately many poor choices are made based solely on gut feeling. Many candidates can make a very positive presentation and may throw off the judgment of an inexperienced interviewer. Hiring the wrong person can be very expensive. When you consider the cost of recruiting, interviewing, employee salary and benefits, lost productivity, and...