2012 Year in Review from Talascend IT

Happy New Year!

In this New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who read and engaged with Talascend IT and me personally in 2012; be it on the blog, LinkedIn and other social media, via email, and more. I’d also like to thank those of you who have felt compelled to share the stories with others.

The beginning of the year is customarily a time for celebration of what the future holds. It’s also a time for reflection on the past year.  Keeping that in mind, I wanted to share the Top 10 posts of 2012 from Talascend IT (just in case you missed one): 

 

10.   Real relationships, not online connections, build true professional networks

Nov 27, 2012 – LinkedIn is a great networking tool. There is a difference between the number of connections you have and the number real relationships you have online. I explore the idea further in this post, which climbed quickly into the top ten.

9.      Friday Bonus Blog: Forward this blog to 10 of your friends and Microsoft will pay you 1 million dollars (and other respect destroying communications)

May 18, 2012 – Even though spawned out of the spirit of competition between a colleague and myself; the message in this post regarding email ‘dos and don’ts’ was apparently pretty important to our readers.

   

8.      The Myth About Contingent Employee Engagement

Dec 10, 2012 – Contingent workers often get a bad rap. Two conflicting studies on the subject really got me thinking about whether or not there are that many differences between contingent workers and full time employees. Apparently I am not alone, as this story ended up being one of the top posts of 2012 in only three weeks.

7.      Back it up. Back it up. The Cloud isn't as safe as 'they' say it is.

Sep 4, 2012 – I think if I wrote ‘back it up’ one more time in this post, the ‘back it up police’ would have come to arrest me. An interesting look into a subject that affects anyone with anything stored online; from pictures saved to social media to data saved on the cloud.

6.      Words Matter: The importance of semantics in business.

Nov 5, 2012 – Simple phrases can make or break a conversation. They can mean the difference between getting buy in from others and ‘losing them’ in a business setting. This post combines some of the most powerful phrases my peers and I came up with in a recent online discussion.

5.      Some Thoughts Are Better Left Untweeted: Is Social Media Eroding Self-Control?

Mar 12, 2012 – The title says it all. Do you do and say things online you wouldn’t in person? Is the increasingly common ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards others a result of social media use? The answers to these question and more garnered this post a seat in the Top Five of 2012.

4.      Three ways to get what you really want from an interviewee.

May 14, 2012 – An article from Forbes had a very profound message about how to get the most out of candidates while interviewing. I expanded on the idea more and received a lot of great feedback as a result.  

3.      I'm sorry I missed that: Is technology affecting the way we communicate?

Oct 22, 2012 – A post I saw on LinkedIn regarding etiquette in interpersonal and professional situations really struck a chord with me. This slap on the wrist to myself is an eye-opening look into the dangers of being distracted by instant communication that today’s technology provides us; and what it can ‘say’ to others while you’re talking with them.

2.      Another Dagger in the Heart of Job Boards?: BranchOut announces $25-million in additional backing for combat with LinkedIn

Apr 23, 2012 – The topic surrounding the decline of job boards definitely sparked the most interest and comments from our readers. Some praised the data and relevancy of major job boards. Some feel I am right in my opinion that they will become less relevant and viable as we move into the future. This blog was only a few readers away from being #1 in our countdown.

       

1.      The ’Beginning of The End for Job Boards’ Kicks into High Gear…Monster Announces It’s 'For Sale.'

Mar 26, 2012 – This follow up to an earlier prediction regarding job boards’ relevancy in this day and age of social networking caused a lot of discussion; both online and offline. It was the hottest topic in 2012.

Thank you again for all of your kind words, comments, and interesting points of view regarding the posts in 2012.  Look for more articles, thoughts, and bold predictions in 2013, and all of us at Talascend IT will look forward to hearing from you.

Happy New Year! –

JK

Josh Kaplan writes on various subjects including management, information technology breakthroughs, healthcare IT recruitment and innovations, big data, IT staffing and recruitment, and technical news and trends.

Three ways to get what you really want from an interviewee.

A couple of weeks ago I posed a question to a group of executive peers on LinkedIn. I asked them what criteria are most important to look for when hiring a top notch sales person. Not only did they have different ideas about what order five traits I gave them were in terms of importance, they added their own. I felt compelled to share this information with my readers.

How do you arrive at the answer to these three questions?

Around the same time I read an article in Forbes by George Bradt. He, with the aid of some executive search industry professionals, came up with a list of the three most important interview questions you need your candidates to answer during an interview.

Here’s the list:

1. Can you do the job?

2. Will you love the job?

3. Can we tolerate working with you?

For the most part, I tend to agree with Bradt that these are the three most important questions. The trick to extracting this information from candidates is the questions you use to arrive at the three answers. It is a different set of questions depending on the type of job you want filled. In the recruitment and resources business, a salesperson or recruiter has to be able to master the art of altering and adapting his or her questions to fit the role. 

We already know in this age of resume padding or fibbing (Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson anyone?) simply looking at their CV will not tell us if they can do the job. So what questions need to be asked to determine if someone is full of Blarney or if they have stretched the truth nominally?

If someone did pad their resume, but has a proven track record of success should the padding be overlooked?  Is a proven track record enough to say someone can do the job, or is each individual success like flipping a coin and the next flip is still a 50/50 shot no matter how many times it has come up heads?

I am not willing to take that chance personally. It all boils down to integrity. What if that the next sales guy or gal I hire uses the same logic they used when creating their resume and applies it to creating a rapport with and making promises to our clients? 

I am interested to hear from you about what questions you use to arrive at the three important answers and how you frame your questions for your industry.

For instance, I am in the technical resources industry. My firm makes best-fit matches between IT, HIT, engineering and technical professionals and our clients.

Here are some of my favorite questions to ask when interviewing IT candidates:

1. How did you handle failure? (Aka - Can you do the job?)

We know asking what business task someone has failed at can tell a lot, just as asking for someone’s successes; but I think a better question combines the two sides of the coin. “What project or task did you initially fail at, that you took a step back, re-evaluated the situation, and came back to overcome it and make it a success?”  You can almost smell the synapses firing up to answer this question right now. Most of us fail at one time or another, but you get a really good idea about if someone can do the job if they can come up with an instance where they can demonstrate success as a result of failing.

2. What did you love about any of your previous employers? (Aka - Will you love the job?)

To determine if someone will love the job is tricky as well.  People are motivated to say they will love it to get the job. You can usually tell from their body language and inflection whether or not this is the case. However, there are some really good actors out there.

Asking questions about what they loved in previous positions and workplaces can give you much more valuable insight than telling them about your company and asking them if they think they’ll fit in. If they talk about management styles, amenities and benefits you simply can’t offer, probably just a matter of time before they bolt in search of a place that does.

3. Are you consistent in your front-facing persona and your backstage self?  (Aka - Can I tolerate working with you?)

Usually in the first five minutes of the per-screening process you can figure out whether or not someone is so annoying or out of their league that they will never make it to the interview. To see if you can tolerate working with someone that’s made it this far is a little easier.  It’s relatively simple for a candidate to put on a good face through 1 or 2 interviews, but the cumulative picture here is the key.

It’s not a question you’re asking but rather the actions they take in response to multiple contacts via e-mail or during multiple interviews with team members of varying personality. Are they consistent in their answers with the happy go lucky interviewer as they are with the behavioral HR contact? Call them on the phone during an off time; possibly even send them a text to confirm the interview. If you get positive communication back in a way that makes you comfortable, across all channels and all people, chances are they will fit in well.

We all arrive at the answers to these questions differently and I am very interest in your point of view. I again invite you to share your experiences and methods as it will likely be mutually beneficial to all responding.