We visited with some old friends in Richmond, Virginia
this past weekend. Besides
the treat of seeing the azaleas and dogwood in
bloom, we also witnessed a Richmond
tradition – the Easter Parade on historic
Monument Avenue.
We were invited to a brunch at this fashionable
address. This party has a long
tradition. Guests are not only expected to show up in
their Easter finery (decorated
hat is mandatory) but they also participate in an
“ Easter Bonnet judging.”
It works like this. The guests congregate on the
front veranda of this marvelous
antebellum home. It is essential that each guest drink
the requisite number
of mimosas in order to get in the voting frame of
mind. We’re given
cards numbering one to ten. And, you guessed it,
as each parade participant
marches by, up goes your number!
There were big hats with lots of flowers and tulle,
small hats with jelly beans
glued to them, decorated baseball caps, hats with
stuffed animals riding atop
– you get the picture. My personal favorite
was a woman who had made quite
an attractive hat out of a decorated upside-down
colander. What made it doubly
funny was her Airedale terrier in a miniature version!
Are you surprised to know that the judging was
all over the lot? Every
one of the guests held up different numbers,
prompting many fun-loving arguments.
“What do you mean a three – that hat
should be an eight!”
(I gave the woman and her Airedale a ten—the
non-dog lovers in the group
weren’t as generous!)
Is your hiring like this Easter Parade contest?
For many companies, hiring managers want to
involve their team in the hiring
process. But, like the guests at the party,
everyone comes to the table (read
party!) with a different judging standard. What
might be a nine for one
will be a five for another. We’ve always said
that hiring is a very
subjective process. How can you “even
out” these swings of opinion?
Here are a few suggestions . . .
- Use a numerical standard
A number rating can be a very good thing. Everyone
understands the “one
to ten” concept. (Thank you Bo Derek!) Use
it to your advantage.
- Don’t let the team rate
“overall” performance
I believe this is where the process gets sticky.
You should not let your
team judge the candidate's “overall”
performance. The reason
why the party guests had such disparate scoring is
because some were judging
on fashion, some on originality and some on humor
(and some had more mimosas
than others!). Rating for overall performance is just
too all encompassing
for each team member to judge correctly. Plus,
that’s your job!
Here’s how it can work
though . . .
- Give each team member a specific functional
area to judge
That’s right. Divide and conquer! In a team
meeting, decide who is
going to interview for what. For example, if you
are hiring a sales person,
have one person interview for prospecting skills, one
person for time management
skills, and you drill down for closing skills. For a
marketer, have someone
interview for product experience, someone for
collateral experience, etc.
You get the picture. For every major functional
responsibility, have a
“designated interviewee.”
- When the interviews are done, gather your
team and put the pieces together!
Now that you have information on all of
your functional areas,
you’re ready to start your judging. Sit
down as a team and discuss
the interviews. Ask your team why they gave
the marks they did. During
this process you can decide whether to accept or
reject (or “adjust”)
any of the scores given.
In the end you’re the manager and you get
to make the call. That is
what you’re paid to do. But in the meantime,
involving your team is a
smart thing to do. It just has to be done in the right
way. And remember, opinions
can be all over the lot. After all, it may be have been
a colander to some,
but it sure was a fun hat to me!
P. S. You’ll never get a “Perfect
10” but for tips on how
to make some trade-offs, click
here.
