Answer all questions of a screener elaborately

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008

After the initial resume screening, companies employ a further assessment tool to vet applicants directly. By way of a screening interview, they weed out unqualified and uninterested candidates, thus narrowing the candidate pool considerably.
This preliminary step is used to qualify candidates before they meet with a hiring authority for possible selection. By separating the grain from the chaff, screening interviews prove to be a quick and efficient strategy that saves both time and money.
The result is a shortlist of qualified candidates who meet the minimum requirements and should be called for interviewing, radically reducing the number of actual formal interviews.
Experienced and professional screeners - either a third-party recruiter or a member of the hiring company’s HR department, generally conduct a screening interview.
While most commonly conducted on the telephone, screening by video conference or online is picking up slowly.
At times, screening questionnaires (online or paper-based) with open-ended or multiple-choice questions are also used to determine candidate eligibility. On a rare occasion, companies do call applicants for a brief face-to-face meeting too.
Irrespective of the approach, screeners are primarily looking to verify candidate qualifications and other essential criteria along with judging real interest in and enthusiasm for the job. The emphasis is on learning more about the candidate prior to the actual interview – character, attitude, ethics, communication skills, professional style, reasons for job hunting - so as to determine whether he/she would be a good fit for the company, the job and the work culture.
Screening is basically a casual discussion, which can last for a few minutes to say, half an hour. The format is highly structured with straight questions and answers that can even be tape recorded for other interviewers. But, the screener will only pick out the best prospects, not hire anyone outright.

Hitting the right note
On the whole, applicants should understand that screening rules are principally different from the normal hiring or selection interviews.
The emphasis is on providing facts that corroborate with the CV and highlight your suitability for the position in question, not building a rapport or portraying your personality. As a career analyst puts it, “Save your winning personality for the person making hiring decisions!”
Candidates should basically conform to what they have already mentioned in the resume. Be confident and give straight-forward, succinct and focussed answers. But, ensure that you never deviate from the truth, as interviewers will verify them during the hiring interview and reference checks.
Understand that the interviewer is basically interested in corroborating your qualifications, experience, workplace preferences and salary expectations with the organisation and job in question, and proceed accordingly.
You can take the initiative to quickly point the interviewer to key areas in your resume that reflect the job needs and also highlight relevant qualifications/accomplishments. What’s more, this is your chance to provide additional information that is specific to the job and could not be covered in the standard resume.
Keep in mind that screeners also seek to identify potential red flags like inconsistencies and will surely dig for dirt like gaps in employment history or other inconsistencies in the resume based on qualifications, work background and experience.
You can reap the advantage of being well prepared by devising a list of potential questions and rehearsing eloquent answers for the same.
Common queries include but are not limited to your work history, leadership skills, key motivators, strengths/weaknesses, achievements/failures, preferred work environment, expected salary, description of your last job, why you quit, what interests you in the new position/company and what skills/contributions you can bring to the same.
While providing the crucial information, you can even seize an opening to ask targeted questions about the company, job role, goals, and responsibilities and work culture with the aim to land a further job interview.
Generally speaking, if your responses pass muster, you will advance to the next interviewing level. But, if the interviewer does not volunteer the information on his own you can tactfully inquire the same with a gracious, “I have really enjoyed talking to you and learning more about your firm. Should I expect to hear from you by a certain date?”
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PAYAL CHANANIA

Internal placement – gives growth chance for aspiring staff

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It’s a known fact that the lure of greener pastures beckons even the most-satisfied employees every now and then.
To keep from losing good workers to this exciting temptation, employers are proffering the proverbial ‘new wine in old bottle’ through internal transfers in the same old company. They give an exclusive first shot at openings to existing em ployees to provide the sorely-needed change. It can be by way of a new opportunity, a challenging assignment, a new boss, exposure to latest technology or just increase in salary.
Such in-house options either move employees up or about, ranging from reassignments and lateral transfers in a similar role or cross-functional moves to even promotions to a higher level.
Apart from the obvious potential as an effective retention tool, employers favour inside hiring as they are familiar with employees’ skills and ‘known’ performance who in turn are no stranger to the company culture, terminology and way of working. As such, internal transferees can fit into the new role without missing a beat, doing away with the customary orientation or break-in period for new hires. Moreover, as an HR expert points out, “Employee transfers are an essential mechanism for knowledge transition and the sharing of best practices.” With redeployment, vacancies are filled faster as employees are less likely to reject the offer, not to mention that hiring, advertising and skill assessment costs become negligible.
Again, an internal placement generally creates a ripple of promotions as many people are moved up to fill each vacancy, opening up more opportunities for everyone. This explicit motivation coupled with the perceptible interest in employees’ development and career enhancement goes a long way in bolstering company image as a foundation of long-term employment security.

What’s in store?
Internal recruitment does emerge as an attractive means of rewarding loyalty and performance even while meeting resource needs, but filling a vacancy with an existing employee is actually easier said than done. Scores of complexities need to be addressed like:
Self-service – When advertising internally, companies do nothing more than post openings on the intranet or on bulletin boards near the cafeteria. It is up to the employees to identify their needs and reach out for matching opportunities on their own. This self-nomination approach limits the effectiveness of internal recruitment as employers have no control over who applies, or more importantly, who doesn’t. The best employees may either be unaware of the vacancy or reluctant to pursue the same. They may even find it easier to seek out similar opportunities outside the company than within.
A more proactive approach is called for where HR managers can effectively seek out key employees or even look for the right employee in the internal talent pool.
Managerial possessiveness – It has often been noticed that managers feel a sense of ownership over the resources in their department, refusing to allow their best and brightest staff to be shifted to another division. They feel threatened by apparent employee disloyalty and may hold back internal mobility by vetoing the move or even punish workers for contemplating the move. Further discontent also stems from the prospect of having to recruit a replacement again.
Top management should anticipate objections from concerned managers and facilitate discussions that enlighten them on the bigger picture of broader success. Once managers understand the overall benefits (especially as employees may leave due to lack of new opportunities) they will embrace the change, at times even to the extent of initiating career planning dialogue with employees.
The ins and outs – Companies impose internal transfer restrictions based on tenure, performance rating or even managerial approval which can frustrate talented and ambitious employees to the point of jumping ship.
Sometimes, releasing a trained employee from an existing department or ongoing project is not that easy.
Infighting and jockeying for positions comes into play; employees even angle for transfers just to escape a boss. Managers are also known to indulge in favouritism, isolating the rest.
Internal candidates may bring familiarity, but still need time and space to pick up the finer aspects of the role. At times, they may need training and guidance to become acquainted with the new line of business.
Therefore, internal recruitment needs to be a systematic process that avails maximum benefits instead of further complicating the system. For instance, managers should conjoin employee career aspirations with internal job requirements and not use transfers just to aid retention. Then and only then, it can create an effective internal resource rotation that aids successful succession planning.

PAYAL CHANANIA

Constant reproach by managers kills employee initiative

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A tongue-in-cheek forward that is doing the e-mail rounds, ‘A team of managers was given an assignment to measure the height of a flagpole.
So the managers go out to the flagpole with ladders and tape. They are falling off the ladders, dropping the tape measures - the whole thing is just a mess. An engineer comes along and sees what they are trying to do, walks over, pulls the flagpole ou t of the ground, lays it flat, measures it from end to end, gives the measurement to one of the managers and walks away.
After the engineer has gone, one manager turns to another and laughs – “See this idiot. We are looking for height and he gives the length!”
Moral: No matter what good you do, Managers can always find fault in you!’
It ends with a postscript cautioning you to never forward this to managers!

Drawing the fault lines
Sounds funny, but the sad truth is that most managers come from the ‘fault-finding’ stable. They are always looking for one excuse or another to find fault with their employees – it can be poor performance, divergent work patterns or even just a failure to conform to their own thought patterns.
Managers may seek glory in finding faults, at times just to show off their technical or managerial superiority. But what they fail to realise is that the blind attitude is quite self-defeating. Vociferous criticism will not do anyone any favours; it actually alienates the staff who will avoid seeking assistance or another way to solve the problem. The fear of constant reproach is also a huge demotivating factor that not only kills initiative but also increases turnover.

Rise above the blame game
No one is infallible everybody makes mistakes. Moreover, it’s easy, in fact far too easy, to find fault. If you look hard enough, you can make employees look bad over anything and everything.
Instead of expending all your energy in finding faults and assessing blame, as a manager you should re-evaluate your management style and shift the focus to fixing the problem.
Move from ‘fault-finding’ mode to a ‘fact-finding’ one where the spotlight is on finding the root cause of the problem and looking for a solution.
Maintaining a degree of accountability is important and you should identify who was involved in the problem. Ask open questions about the error without jumping to judgements and attacking employees. For instance you can switch from “and you did….” to “let’s look at the facts.”
While determining the cause for a performance gap, dig deeper as it could be that the employee did not have access to the necessary information/resources or even the work system could be to blame. If so, make according changes in the work environment that will enable the workforce to be more productive and succeed.
If the poor performance is attributed primarily to an employee error, steps should be taken to hold the individual employee accountable, but without resorting to petty ridicule, sarcasm or malice. Steer clear of public humiliation by discussing the issue behind closed doors.
Here too, the accent should not be on fixing blame and pointing out failures, but on offering constructive feedback laced with thoughtful suggestions, alternatives and counselling.
Also, keep the communication lines open so that the employees can approach you for directions and coaching whenever needed.
Portraying a supportive tolerance that gives an employee the opportunity to succeed again inspite of the failures goes a long way in building effective work relationships.

Find what they are doing right too
To enhance alignment with employees and improve managerial control, it is imperative to acknowledge employee ideas, contributions and achievements with both compliments and rewards. For instance, while critiquing a fault, you should also comprehend the big picture by accepting the amount of thought, preparation and hard work that has gone into the assignment. Developing an encouraging attitude sans any confrontational overtones will not only earn you staff respect and admiration, but also pave the way for employee growth by harnessing their best abilities and skills.
So, remember that you may be an expert in finding faults, correcting and criticising, but such behaviour will never build a positive and motivating work environment. Handling performance problems by finding solutions is the real key to great management.
To quote an ancient Chinese philosopher, ‘A leader is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worst when they despise him!’

PAYAL CHANANIA