Hire Like a NFL Team Owner

There has been a lot in the media lately about Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, a successful business entrepreneur, interviewing candidates for his team’s head coach position. There have been stories about the 32-day search and twenty-eight hours of interviews per candidate until Jim Zorn was selected. What are the lessons from this for hiring managers for businesses and other organizations? Take all the time you need to find the right people for your key jobs and do not delegate the time-consuming task to either the human resources department or your underlings. The interview process is only worthwhile if it allows the hiring manager to determine the following…

Skills

A resume can only tell you so much. What are the job candidate’s skills? A face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball interview can tell you more than all the resumes and phone calls in the world. Having the prerequisite skills, as defined by the hiring manager, is essential.

Personality

No resume can speak to a candidate’s personality. Are they passive, aggressive, rebellious, and innovative or a “yes” person? An interview with a number of questions and scenarios followed up with informal interactions, such as over a meal, can reveal quite a bit about a job candidate’s true personality. This is not something that comes out over a one hour interview with a set of “canned” questions.

Drive

What motivates a job candidate to get up in the morning and to do not only what is expected but to take the initiative? Do they have a “fire” burning inside of them? Are they motivated to give 110% every single day? Multiple interviews over a period of time will directly and indirectly reveal the answers to these important questions for any position.

Experience

Job candidates can have skills and not experience. They can even have experience but not the skills. The combination of both skills AND experience is unbeatable. Again, a resume can only tell so much. An exhaustive interview process will speak volumes in terms of real hands-on, done successfully (or perhaps learned from failing) experience in a field, functional areas or leadership position.

Attitude

It is nearly impossible to pick up on a job candidate’s attitude from a resume or even a screening telephone call. What kind of attitude will complement the organization? There is no one right answer, but attitude is important. Generally, a positive, can-do attitude is ideal. But that must be balanced with a degree of pragmatism and shrewdness for most leadership or other key positions.

Persistence

Job candidates who have had a record of success, according to their resumes or personal references may not necessarily be persistent. Some have been fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time. Those job candidates who have, time and again, demonstrated persistence are often valued by hiring managers – especially for when things get tough.

Goals

Every organization has long term and short term goals. Most, if not all, successful people have short and long term goals also. These may not be overt on a resume or through a reference. The goals of the individual and of the hiring organization must be in alignment. If they are not, then the fit will not be a good or successful one.

Weaknesses

Individuals being human have weaknesses. To determine what they are you must look beyond a resume or a phone interview. Formal and informal interviews and related exchanges and observations help to identify a job candidates weaknesses. A love of drink? A habit of gambling? Laziness? Slovenliness? Lateness? Disorganization? Or perhaps treating others badly? The list is endless. But faults and weaknesses must be identified before a candidate is hired to determine if they are contrary to the culture and needs of the organization and pressures of the position.

Style

Every successful person has their own personal style. It may be low key. It may be flashy. It may be loud. It may be introverted and analytical. Also every company culture or other organization has its own “image” or style. A good fit between individual style and an organization’s culture is not essential but tends to be beneficial (although there are exceptions). An extended face-to-face interview process is an opportunity to directly observe a candidate’s personal style.

You may not be as rich or powerful as Dan Snyder, you may not be a NFL team owner and your may not be hiring a head football coach. But you should take hiring any candidate for a position in your business or organization just a seriously as Snyder did for the Redskins. Taking the time to personally and exhaustively interview candidates for jobs will pay dividends in terms of “winning” in the increasingly competitive marketplace regardless of your industry, sector or field.


George F. Franks, III is the President of Franks Consulting Group, a Bethesda, Maryland management consulting and leadership coaching practice. Franks Consulting Group’s clients include businesses, associations, other non-profit organization and individual leaders. George is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants (USA), Telecom Hub and the Maryland Society of Association Executives. Franks Consulting Group is on the web at:
http://franksconsultinggroup.com
George can be contacted by e-mail at:
gfranks@franksconsultinggroup.com