How to choose the right
Personnel Hiring process
- an interview with Mr. Marten Runow
Here is an interview with Mr. Marten Runow (M.R); CEO and Founder of Performia International who developed a unique technology for use in the Hiring field.
Q: I know that many people consider you one of the most eminent specialists in the sphere of Personnel evaluation and Hiring. Can you tell us about recent developments in this field and provide some practical examples that can be used when Hiring new employees. For example, what are the most important items that should be taken into consideration when you Hire personnel?
M.R: Different approaches to Hiring are based on different factors and data about the Candidate. One Businessman used the following approach when choosing employees: “If the Candidate’s finger-nails are nicely polished, that means she has a lot of free time and doesn’t like to work. I won’t hire her!”. Such approaches do exist. Taking into consideration my long experience in the Hiring field I can define 4 main items which you should look at very attentively. These are (1) Individual Productivity (2) Personality attributes as they are suitable for this particular vacancy (3) Motivation or what the Candidate is interested in – to help the Company or only personal benefit; and the last (4) Knowledge about the profession he is applying for work in. In some cases Knowledge can be considered first, but without checking the other 3 factors it will not necassarily provide adequate results with which to make a Hiring decision.
When I speak about Productivity I mean that the Candidate must be able to produce a product. When I speak about a Product I mean something valuable, something produced for the Company, something that can be measured. There must be a volume of production aswell as quality. It may look very simple, but after working in this market for more than 20 years I can guarantee that the main mistake Companies make in Hiring is not placing sufficient attention on this point regarding Production. But as regards the Company’s expansion this is the most important.
Q: If Productivity is such an important factor, why do Companies ignore this? How can this ability be checked on for a Candidate not formerly known to us?
M.R: We have been trying for a long time to find how to differentiate the productive person from the non-productive and to do it in minimum time. As a result of many, many observations we found what sort of questions must be asked during the Interview with an Applicant. These questions are included under the heading Productivity check. Having spent 5-10 minbutes with a Candidate you would be able to answer the following question with certainty: “Will this person be valuable to my Company?”. Our Clients, educated in Performia, constantly note that this new approach differs a lot from the traditional interview in two ways – it’s much shorter and much more exact. That’s a fact. Besides checking on the ability of the Candidate to produce results, you must always also pay attention on the Competence and Knowledge of a person. When I say Competence I mean not just theoretical knowledge but to check for real application, in practical terms, of all the knowledge the person has. High marks earned at school can look very good but experience has taught us that we must look deeper, if we want to find real competence.
Q: You said that Personal attributes also play a role when choosing new personnel. How are Productivity and Personality connected? Isn’t the ability to produce a personal trait?
M.R: We need to understand that Productivity and Personality are different things. There are several reasons why you should look at Personality. You can productively steal money – that’s also a productivity of some kind. You can also productively deliver some useful service. So what exactly will the ability of this person to produce be directed at you will be able to see when looking at his Personal traits. Here is an example from one Russian Company. There was a Sales Director who quickly found his place in the team and created a great deal of Team Cooperation. He also secretly organized selling some of the Company's products, for personal profit, without their knowledge. Was he not really productive? He was super-productive and obviousely clever. But because the Company did not recognise the destructive tendencies he had, they got a lot of problems because of having hired this man.
You also need to be able to see if the person is suitable for a vacancy. Many people do work for which they are not really suited. Sometimes they do it because they have to do some sort of work. But the Company must be able to see it whether they are suitavle for a particular vacancy or not. Here is a simple example. A person comes to you for the cashier position. She will have to stay in a small room the whole day. But this person just “dies” because of being unable to move and communicate a lot to others. You hire him thinking that he will work for you for a long time, but they leave after a month. If you had known his personal traits before, you could have either hired another person or put this candidate on another position.
In short, for those reasons we look at Personality using the Performia EXEC-U-TEST.
Q: But due to my experience personal tests aren’t highly exact. Can we really rely on them?
M.R: I can’t answer for all tests on this planet but about our test, I can say for sure that its exactness has been wondered about many times by even old experts. By the way, I am often asked, can this test be tricked, filled in “very cleverly”, etc. Certainly, people who fill in tests have very often read books about correct behavior, and can obtain apparently higher results on the graph. But if they attempt that with our test a particular Syndrome appears, the “I want to be liked by everybody” Syndrome. Someone trained as a Performia Evaluator will notice this very easily and will take it into consideration when dealing with this Candidate.
Regarding ordinary people who tried this test we often hear such epithets as “It’s all about me!” “That’s right!”, “It’s incredible, how do you do it?”.
Of course I won’t give you 100% guarantee but I guarantee for sure 85-90%.
Q: What of all this can be taught for personal use?
M.R: You can purchase an evaluation of individual Candidates from our company. It’s very convenient for one-time cases. But if your Company is going to be in the market for new Personnel a long time, then it would be much better to come to our Seminar and learn how to use all the aspects of the tech – how to write an Ad; how to do an Interview; how to get to understand personal traits; how to ascertain the Candidate’s motivation; their knowledge and make a Reference check. All this is available in almost 20 countries including Kazakhstan and Russia. In these 2 countries these professional seminars are delivered by the President Performia CIS Mr. Vladimir Sidorenko. This tech has been used in CIS since 2002.
Q: Can you give any tips how to make the Productivity check?
M.R: Of course. In order to give you the whole idea of this you need enough time (that’s why we deliver 8-Day seminars), then I will tell you about points which you should focus on. First you need to understand what Product means. Product in this definition of the word is a valuable final result which has exchange value inside or outside the company. Example: the Product of an Executive could be A lively and expanding organization. If the Company’s income and size are increasing then we can say that this Executive has created the Product required of his position. The Product of a Security Guard can be “ A secure working environment” and it can be measured as “the number of safe working days”. All that we observe during many years is that people who like to produce want to know what you expect of them (that can be called the Product). Then they will do their best to give you all that you have asked. When you ask Candidates about what Products they have produced in the past you will make a wonderful discovery that some people have only a very slight idea of this or don’t even understand this idea at all. Those people who can tell you about their previous products and about their results and can use some measurement to describe the volume and quality, as a rule, are our best and most potential Candidates. In order to tell you about this more in detail and give you more information, Performia seminars are organized.
Q: Who are usually the participants of your seminars about Hiring?
M.R: It differs. First from any Company the Owner must be educated. He must become acquainted with the technology which will make his company become stronger. If the Company is big and the Owner does not do hiring personally, then he sends his Personnel Manager to get trained. For technical specialists there exists special training (in CIS there is a special classroom in Moscow), where people receive a lot of practical Training. For Company’s Owners we deliver special 8-day live Seminars. Often at such seminars there are partners and Executives of our Clients.
Q: If you really know the working technology of Hiring, what are the limits of success?
M.R: I would say that it’s impossible to have 100% of success. There exist such fields which are difficult to control. Besides, life changes and that means circumstances are constantly changing. For example, you could hire a very productive secretary, but 5 months later you hear that this person is leaving your organization as her husband received an offer to become a Director in some other City or country. If you don't like stress then you shouldn't work in Hiring as the person who does must be always ready for new circumstances and change. Nevertheless, when I say that 100% success is impossible I would say that 85-90% success is possible when you know exactly what it is your are meant to do. For example, in Sweden, when we were checking the quality of our projects we came to 94% success. A successfully completed project means the following: the client, whom we have helped to hire a new employee, after 9 months says that he is pleased with the result.
Q: What do you think about the future of recruiting and the hiring process?
M.R: Evidently, in the future there will be more attention on the proving all achievements stated in the Candidates resume. Most of the Hiring Process will be done on the Internet and Companies will have to become better organized and educated, especially in the field of Management. The Hiring process and as well movement in the job market are speeding up a lot. In the USA, basic educational standards such as the ability to read and write have dropped a lot and thgis creates much concern in the Business world. We hope that Russia and Kazakhstan will be able to save their best traditions in this field. Personal traits and low productivity can be in many cases directly connected with poor education. Employers will also face such problems.
Q: What does the picture with the Cart mean?
M.R: The Cart is your company. People, who push it forward, are the most valuable employees. Those who just sit in the Cart are employees who could do more for their Company but for some reason don’t. And sometimes there are those who try to stop the Cart and create a lot of difficulties and problems. With the tech of Performia every Company could increase the number of those who push the Cart forward and don’t let on staff those who could become “the stopper” for the group. This is the aim of the tech of Performia for Hiring productive employees.
