Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • 7 Steps to Implement a Realistic Job Preview

    7 Steps to Implement a Realistic Job Preview

    Last week  we discussed why it’s important to do a realistic job preview.  So how exactly do you do it? Internships and co-op programs are long-term realistic job previews. This set up can provide a company with an opportunity to screen candidates without a making a permanent hiring commitment, but it may take too long.  For tips on starting a job shadowing program, click here.

    In the absence of setting up an internship or co-op program, you can do a realistic job preview in a day or a week. The ultimate goal is to simulate the work and the work environment in a way that helps you assess their fit and ability to perform the work and allows them to decide if the opportunity is the right fit for them.

    Steps to Implement Realistic Job Preview

    1. Select a set of work that this person would be doing if hired. This should be real work, things the company needs to get done anyway. You are just assigning this work to this person for the time period you’ve selected.
    2. To protect any proprietary information, since you are assigning them real work, get them to sign a confidentiality agreement.
    3. Give them the basic information and knowledge to success, but don’t show them how to do everything. Provide them with any basic internal knowledge they need to get the work done and introduce them to people that they will need to work with or through to get the tasks done.
    4. Bring them into the office (or if the work is virtual, let them work virtually) and give them the amount of time you think would be needed to complete the work to get it done.
    5. Let them go and do the work.
    6. Pay them the rate they would be getting paid for the amount of time they worked.  This adds to the realistic nature of the exercise.
    7. Assess how well they did the work, how needy they are in relying on others to get the work done and how well they interacted with others in getting the work done. Ask those they interacted with what they think. Creating a rubric of key criteria that corresponds with a scoring mechanism is a good idea. This helps to eliminate subjectivity and allows for better comparison across candidates.

    Because a realistic job preview is somewhat involved, we suggest doing it towards the end of the process with your top 2-4 candidates.

    Have you ever done a realistic job preview? How did it help you make a better hiring decision?

  • Internship Spotlight

    Internship Spotlight

    Are you a college student in search of experience to prepare you for the world of work? Why not consider an internship? It’s a great way to build your resume, network and possibly get your foot in the door with a future employer. Internships are also great for high school students. It gives students an opportunity to try out different occupations before making a career path decision. For high schools students, use our Job Shadowing Questionnaire if you get the chance to intern.

     

    What is an internship anyway? According to Wikipedia: An internship is a job training for whit-collar and professional careers. Internships for professional careers are similar in some ways to apprenticeships for trade and vocational jobs, but the lack of standardization and oversight leaves the term open to broad interpretation. Interns may be college or university students, high school students, or post-graduate adults. These positions may be paid or unpaid and are usually temporary.

     

    Generally, an internship consists of an exchange of services for experience between the student and an organization. Students can also use an internship to determine if they have an interest in a particular career, create a network of contacts or gain school credit. Some interns find permanent, paid employment with the organizations for which they worked. This can be a significant benefit to the employer as experienced interns often need little or no training when they begin regular employment. Unlike a trainee program, employment at the completion of an internship is not guaranteed.

     

    In a 2009 study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Experiential Education Survey, the following staggering statistics were discovered:

    Check out 3 Steps to an Internship Game Plan and Benefits of Doing an Internship for more insight. If you are ready to search for an internships, use the following resource links to get you started:

    Internship Programs

    Internships.com

    Intern Match

    Would you like to participate in an internship? Why or why not?

  • Realistic Job Previews

    Realistic Job Previews

    3 Reasons to Make Realistic Job Previews a Part of Your Hiring Process

    What’s the best way to determine if a person is right for the job? What’s the best way for a job candidate to know they are accepting the right job? Traditional methods for employers tell us to screen resumes, interview candidates and make a decision. In the case of hiring recent college grads, traditional wisdom tells us to look at their G.P.A. and their major to predict success. That’s the way most companies do it; it must work.

    For job seekers, traditional wisdom tells us to take any job (a still recovering economy tells us this), and if you have multiple offers, pick the one that pays the most.   And make sure you strive for a 4.0 if you are in college and want job prospects.

    But data tells us that the traditional methods aren’t producing results for the employer or the employee. Recent employee engagement statistics indicate only 13% of the worldwide workforce is engaged at work and data shows G.P.A. and major don’t predict job performance. Just ask Google.

    Is there better way to hire where both employer and potential employee benefit?

    Yes. Do a Realistic Job Preview

     

    Why Do A Realistic Job Preview or Request One as Candidate

    Although realistic job previews may not be, well realistic, for all industries and jobs, they are extremely helpful to both employer and potential employee because:

    1. They tell you if the candidate can do the job/if you’ll like the job.   Quite simply, it demonstrates whether or not the candidate can perform the tasks for the job and if you are the job seeker, it helps determine if you would actually like doing the tasks of the job.
    2. They tell you if the candidate has the “soft” skills to succeed/ if your potential boss is someone you would want to work for. Things like time management, communication, problem solving, etc. are hard to measure in an interview even though behavioral based interviewing is the best way to do so. Giving assignments, setting deadlines and leaving people to do the work gives a true picture of these soft skills. Realistic job previews also help you as the candidate understand how your potential boss communicates and if you would like to work with their style of leadership and personality.
    3. They tell you if there is “fit”.   We all have different values and priorities.   Employees are more engaged on the job and therefore more successful when the values and priorities of the organization align with personal values.  These aren’t right or wrong values, they are just preferences and personalities that people (and organizations) have. The better we are at matching individual values to organizational values, the better match we create which leads to higher job satisfaction, engagement, productivity and profitability.
  • Job Search Tips for College Students – Use Your Spring Break to Prep for Job Search

    Job Search Tips for College Students – Use Your Spring Break to Prep for Job Search

    While others are on the beach for spring break, why not get a step ahead and get ready to land the perfect job after graduation?

     

    You at least have an idea of what career path you are pursuing upon graduation, but do you know what company you want to work for? If not, do a google search of relevant job titles and find out who’s hiring. Then, do research on each company. You will be surprised at how helpful that will be when you land an interview. Having background knowledge of your future employer is invaluable.

     

    Now that you have an idea of potential employers, why not begin revamping your resume? Remember to cater the resume for each job you plan to apply for, don’t use personal pronouns and make sure you use a font that is clear and easy to read. Check out Marketing Yourself Must Go Beyond the Traditional Resume and 4 Easy Steps to Know Which Keywords to Include in your Resume for some unique ideas. Contact us at Horizon Point Consulting, Inc. if you are interested in a professional revision of your resume.

     

    Are you connected? If not, join the growing number of professionals and job seekers on LinkedIn. Create a profile and let the networking begin. LinkedIn is a great way to begin your job search. The Forbes article Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn in Your Job Search is a great read for getting started.

     

    For more tips on beginning your quest for the perfect job, Job Search Tips for New Grads by Jason Alderman on Huff Post offers more insight.

  • Why interviews aren’t the best way to hire right

    Why interviews aren’t the best way to hire right

    We’ve had two young men as career coaching clients lately. Although pursuing different types of opportunities, they are both in their early to mid-twenties and are having a hard time finding a job in their respective fields- both of which, by the way, are in demand.   Both have been getting called for interviews, but something seems to fail in the interview every time and they haven’t been offered jobs.

    So, we’ve been working with them to help improve their interviewing skills. Both of these guys are technically minded. They are smart, good, hardworking people. But they are introverts. Situations like interviews are not their strong suit. In reviewing the little bit of feedback they have been given by those who have interviewed them, they get comments like “You need to be more animated.” Or “You need to be more excited and passionate.”

    I’m all for finding people who are passionate about the field they are pursuing, but I sometimes want to say to employers, come on, you are hiring an engineer, not a sales person.   Do they really need to be Mr. Personality or do they need to be technically competent and, yes, personable enough to get along with others, but couldn’t being introverted actually be something that is desirable for a role like an engineer?

    While we need to help people become better at conveying who they are and why they would be a valuable asset to an organization, I think we rely on interviews entirely too much when making hiring decisions. Yes, they are necessary, but I think we establish a certain set of criteria for interviewing that seems to always judge people on their gregariousness or lack thereof and of course a person’s physical appearance instead of what is actually needed for success in a role.

    In light of this, we are going to look at some innovative ways and tools to make screening better in order to hire right:

    1. Implement a pre-screening assessment that assesses people for organizational fit. You automatically screen out those that would not fit with the organization’s values and culture, because as we wrote about previously organizational fit is more important than job fit. There is more here on how to select the right screening assessment.

     

    2. Implement a mechanism to see if the person can actually perform the job like a skills-based assessment, in-basket exercises, assessment center techniques or a realistic job preview (more on this next week). Many of these tools also involve some type of interaction with organizational stakeholders that gives you an idea of how well they will work with their potential team. A cool company that is combining many of these tools is Shaker Consulting Group and it’s virtual job tryout.

     

    3. Consider if competition based recruiting could be a viable option for your organization or certain types of positions within your organization.

    More here on this new trend:

    Contest Recruiting

    Competition Based Hiring Whitepaper

     

    4. Improve your interviewing tactics.

    Some innovative tools for this: Hireology and Hirevue

     

    Some other thoughts on improving your hiring process: Hire Slow

    What have you found to be the best hiring practice?