Advanced Executive Recruiting

Make the case for your new hire. Preview 03:03

When you create a business case for hiring, you begin your search on strong footing. It's not that difficult to accomplish, but is necessary in order to justify the hire, screen against appropriate criteria and attract candidates. You project stability, which will also help you address any concerns of your staff, if they arise.

Use SMART Objectives for your search. Preview 02:13

Most people have heard of SMART objectives, but few use them as guidelines for hiring. Having a clear understanding of your objectives for the role you are hiring is the key to making successful hires. Hiring is about more that filling a seat or accomplishing a set of tasks, it's about addressing business problems. Those can be addressed most effectively if you describe the specifics before you begin.

Clarify the responsibilities of the role. Preview 02:58

Translating your business objectives and goals into specific responsibilities will help you communicate most effectively in a simple, clear and understandable way. Responsibilities should be reduced to the most critical to be powerful and these can then be used to easily communicate with candidates and other stakeholders.

Translate responsibilities into qualifications Preview 03:14

A few key qualifications can typically summarize all that you need to hire the right person. Most position descriptions offer a long list of qualifications, which can confuse candidates and interviewers. They prevent you from seeing the forest for the trees because they make you focus too much on details and too little on the reason for hiring in the first place. Minimize the number of qualifications and make them as powerful as possible for success!

WORKSHEET: Envision the ideal candidate Preview 2 pages

This worksheet describes a detailed process that you can use to launch your search effectively. It draws on the principles learned in this section and draws out your emotional responses and instinct as well as your logic, in order to lay the strongest possible foundation for your executive search.

The principles of attraction. Preview 01:26

Use the psychology of dreams to attract career driven professionals. You will recruit the best candidates if you use the principles found in this section. We will discuss the Career Case, your company's mission and how to use these throughout the hiring process to help candidates understand your vision and join your company with the right mindset.

What is the Career Case? Preview 02:22

You must create a Career Case before presenting your open position to any potential candidate. This means looking at the position from the candidate's point-of-view and asking the question, "Why would someone want to accept this position?" It incorporates your vision, mission and the job to create an attractive picture for the role. What's more? It helps you screen more effectively!

Create your Career Case Preview 04:06

Translate your business case and vision into the Career Case using this method. The method sets the context for the message you wish to transmit to prospective hires.

This lesson covers a step-by-step method for creating the case using elements of the position that you already know well.

Unleash your position on the world! Preview 05:42

Once you have created a Career Case, you must use it well to have a maximum impact on candidates before and during the interview process. Focus on simplicity and distribute the information appropriately to have the greatest effect.

Describe the opportunity, not the position. Preview 03:06

When you begin your conversations by talking about the job, you take the mystery out of the conversation. You may push the best candidates away without understanding why. Use this technique to capture your prospects' attention and imagination.

By describing the opportunity in the way we discuss here, you will attract candidates more effectively and give yourself the opportunity to screen more deeply.

BONUS: The Career Case in depth Preview 08:36

This bonus lesson provides a more in-depth, sweeping view of the Career Case and how to use it. It is a good supplement to concepts learned in this section.

What is your objective in the first call? Preview 02:19

What do you really want to get out of a phone screen? Is it just about deciding whether there is a good fit, or is there something more...

Introduce yourself with power. Preview 03:16

You set the stage for a successful interview with a powerful introduction. Remember, you need to sell yourself and the opportunity before screening and a strong introduction makes that much easier.

Your introduction does not need to be long, in fact it shouldn't be. You just want to establish the credibility and interest required to fully engage your candidates.

Remember that the best candidate's have multiple career options, so recognize that fact and begin your phone screens with an attractive introduction.

Set candidate expectations for more productive phone calls. Preview 05:06

Make more effective use of the time you spend with each candidate and prospect. Use this technique to set expectations in the call and get the following benefits:

1. Maximize the use of your time
2. Boost candidate confidence in you
3. Screen more effectively
4. Gain a better handle on their interest level, AND
5. Short circuit candidates that go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and so forth...

Negotiate from the outset or face the consequences. Preview 08:31

Salary negotiation arguably starts before you even get on the phone, and most certainly begins as you describe the position and get to know your candidate.

The most obvious demonstration comes when you ask for your candidate's current compensation or expectations in the future. Or when they ask you! Either way, addressing this issue early and effectively is key to a successful hire and ultimately, a happy employee.

Learn the Columbo method of negotiation in this video!

Have a code when responding to candidates. Preview 05:08

Your inbox is full, your hair is on fire, and now you have to respond to all these candidates that you will never need anyway. Or will you? 

When you recruit candidates for your company, you create multiple opportunities for yourself. The most obvious being to hire someone immediately to solve whatever business problem you are facing. But there are other benefits as well.

You may need to make another hire in the future, you may want a referral to someone other than your candidate, you may need a job at some point, and guess who the hiring manager turns out to be? A former candidate! And, of course you always want to leave a good impression to enhance your brand. 

Make it easy on yourself and set up an easy code for responding to candidates and reap the rewards of the strong relationships you build throughout your career

BONUS: How to say no to candidates Preview 05:46

Just because you have a code doesn't mean it's easy to reject people. You must find the right words to preserve your most valuable potential relationships.

The alchemy of the big three internal influences. Preview 05:20

What are emotion, instinct and logic anyway?

My crazy ex-girlfriend. Emotions. Preview 06:46

Trying to keep a lid on things just isn't going to work. And, just because she's crazy doesn't mean she's not right. Stop trying to control them and use your emotions to your benefit.  This video covers the creation of an interview plan that tempers and leverages your emotional reactions during an interview

The best interview question ever Preview 06:25

This video not only reveals the single most powerful interview question you can ask; it explains how to use it. We go through several possible example answers to show how to think about these responses. You will learn that how a candidate responds is often more important than what they actually accomplished.

The second best interview question ever. Preview 04:21

This question taps into your candidates' imaginations. It has it's limits though because it does lead candidates to answer what they think you are looking for. If you listen closely, though, you will get a lot out of their answers. 

Rationale for coherent deduction via left cerebral hemisphere. Logic. Preview 04:07

Although recruiting is an emotional and instinctual sport, logic holds its own in the arena.

Say hello to my little voice. Instinct. Preview 04:00

It all comes down to instinct if you want to make the best hiring decisions. Combine your experience, emotions, logic to bring out your true gut feel.

How to organize your evaluations Preview 01:57

This methodology will enable you to make the best hiring decisions by focusing on eight primary assessment areas. It allows you to implement what you now know about logic, instinct and emotion. This is your guide, your little black book, your Plato, your Tenzing Norgay.

Energy Preview 02:33

Sustained energy is more important than short spurts. How do you evaluate that?

Past Performance Preview 01:12

Have you heard the phrase, "past performance is the best indicator of future results?" It's important to work this into your evaluations without letting it dominate your thinking.

Previous Accomplishments Preview 01:29

Accomplishments and performance are a little different. Here's what sets them apart.

Education and Experience Preview 02:08

Give experience it's due without relying on it as a primary indicator of success.

Problem Solving Preview 02:20

How your candidate thinks about a problem is critical to their being able to take on a leadership role within your organization.

Leadership Preview 01:48

Leadership has many definitions and the best organizations have many leaders. But, leader doesn't mean only the top executives, even the most junior people in your organization must demonstrate leadership in order for your company to function at its peak performance level.

Character and Values Preview 02:49

Character provides a foundation for everything that an employee does. Make sure your candidate's character lines up with your organization's for best results.

Cultural Fit Preview 02:11

Cultural fit is not just a feeling, but your emotional and instinctual reactions to a candidate provide an importantr basis for evaluation in this category.

How to use what you've learned in this section Preview 01:37

Bring everything together to create a balanced view of every candidate. Be careful not to try to cover too much ground in an individual interview. Hiring is a process that unfolds over time and your evaluation should follow a reasonable pace. Bring others into the process for best results.

Assessment Grid Preview 1 page

This template will help you evaluate all your candidates.

So, you think negotiation comes after the final interview? Preview 04:05

Broach the subject of compensation. Preview 05:49

Pitfalls Preview 05:02

What to avoid in order to execute an effective negotiation.

Closing the deal Preview 06:58

What's next? Preview 01:26

CLASS NOTES Preview 13 pages

We put together an entire booklet of class notes covering every lecture in the course. Sit back and enjoy the course and you'll have this as a reference guide. Download it at the start, if you like spoilers!

Managing the interview process Preview 07:12