The Truth About Improving Your Hiring Skills (Collection)

150 powerful bite-size solutions for hiring more successfully – and making sure your new hires succeed!

 

Three full books of practical guidance on making the right hires, and getting the most out of everyone you hire! Discover how to make great people want to work for you… ask the right questions in every interview… engage employees and build engaged cultures… overcome obstacles to communication… improve your evaluations… cure “layoff survivor sickness”…and much more!

 

From world-renowned leaders and experts, including Martha I. Finney, Cathy Fyock, and Stephen P. Robbins

Table of Contents

A. The Truth About Getting the Best from People

PART I The Truth About Employee Engagement

TRUTH 1 You don’t need the carrot or the stick

TRUTH 2 You get the best by giving the best

TRUTH 3 It’s not money that motivates

TRUTH 4 Employee engagement isn’t for sissies

PART II The Truth About Yourself

TRUTH 5 Your behaviors are your brand

TRUTH 6 You can’t give what you don’t have

TRUTH 7 “Best” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone

TRUTH 8 Think you’re a great leader? Think again.

TRUTH 9 You could be your own worst employee

TRUTH 10 Visionary or beat cop? Your choice

TRUTH 11 You don’t have to be perfect

PART III The Truth About Engaged Cultures

TRUTH 12 Employee happiness is serious business

TRUTH 13 Authentic is better than clever

TRUTH 14 Retention begins with hello

TRUTH 15 The bad will do you good

TRUTH 16 You can sell an unpopular decision

TRUTH 17 Flex is best

TRUTH 18 Nobody cares if you don’t mean to be mean

PART IV The Truth About Motivation

TRUTH 19 Engagement happens one person at a time

TRUTH 20 If you’re a manager, you’re a career coach

TRUTH 21 Ask for cheese–you might get the moon

TRUTH 22 If they aren’t buying it, they aren’t doing it

TRUTH 23 Focusing on what’s right can help solve what’s wrong

PART V The Truth About Performance

TRUTH 24 Compassion promotes performance

TRUTH 25 B players are your A team

TRUTH 26 High performers have enough coffee mugs

TRUTH 27 Discipline deepens engagement

TRUTH 28 You don’t have to inherit the problem employees

TRUTH 29 Performance appraisals are really about you

TRUTH 30 New hires can inspire current employees

PART VI The Truth About Creativity

TRUTH 31 Innovation begins with y-e-s

TRUTH 32 Everyone can be creative

TRUTH 33 You stand between inspiration and implementation

TRUTH 34 Failures promote progress

TRUTH 35 Extreme pressure kills inspired performance

TRUTH 36 Creativity is a balancing act

PART VII The Truth About Communication

TRUTH 37 Open questions ignite inspiring answers

TRUTH 38 Serving your employees means managing your boss

TRUTH 39 Bad news is good news

TRUTH 40 Trivial conversations are essential

TRUTH 41 The way you listen speaks volumes

TRUTH 42 Crap happens

TRUTH 43 Engaged employees need to know more

PART VIII The Truth About Teams

TRUTH 44 Your team has untapped talent

TRUTH 45 People need to fight their own battles

TRUTH 46 Games don’t build teams

TRUTH 47 Answers build teams

TRUTH 48 Your team can lead you to greatness.

TRUTH 49 You’re still the boss

 

B. The Truth About Hiring the Best

PART I The Truth About Identifying the Best

TRUTH 1 There is no such thing as the ideal candidate

TRUTH 2 You are a seller in a buyer’s market

TRUTH 3 Catch the boomerangs

TRUTH 4 Rehire the retired

TRUTH 5 Job-hoppers could be show-stoppers

TRUTH 6 Seek refuge(e)

PART II The Truth About Recruiting the Best

TRUTH 7 It’s a war for talent

TRUTH 8 Maybe you don’t want “new blood”

TRUTH 9 Your actions speak louder than words

TRUTH 10 Targeting everybody attracts nobody

TRUTH 11 You are a talent scout

TRUTH 12 The Internet may not be the best place for recruiting

TRUTH 13 Use the enthused

TRUTH 14 It takes a village to hire one employee

TRUTH 15 Newspaper ads can be great when managed properly

TRUTH 16 Your invitation might be chasing applicants away

PART III The Truth About Interviewing

TRUTH 17 The candidate isn’t the only one who has to interview right

TRUTH 18 Ask what they will do, not what they can do

TRUTH 19 Charlie might be more than just a great mechanic

TRUTH 20 Passion–in fashion?

TRUTH 21 Good candidates might not talk to you

TRUTH 22 You’re not Sigmund Freud

TRUTH 23 Candidates and the truth–the whole truth

TRUTH 24 Don’t let the candidate’s resume drive the interview

TRUTH 25 Avoid the “hot seat”

TRUTH 26 You can oversell the job

TRUTH 27 There is such a thing as a bad question

TRUTH 28 You’re guilty until you prove you’re innocent

TRUTH 29 It’s impolite (and discriminatory) to ask about age

TRUTH 30 You wouldn’t ask him if he’s married–don’t ask her either

TRUTH 31 Kind curiosity can kill a career

TRUTH 32 Avoid questions about religious affiliations

TRUTH 33 Your mother was wrong; sometimes do be rude

PART IV The Truth About the Selection Process

TRUTH 34 Have a vacancy to fill? You’re already too late

TRUTH 35 Warning: this resume may contain spin!

TRUTH 36 Your candidate may be a scam-didate

TRUTH 37 The resume says “yes,” but the body language says “no”

TRUTH 38 The receptionist test–better than salt?

TRUTH 39 Don’t send away candidates dressed for a day at the beach

TRUTH 40 You aren’t an elephant

TRUTH 41 Keep on selling to candidates

PART V The Truth About Panel and Multiple Interviews, Background Checks, Tests, and Other Tools of the Trade

TRUTH 42 Invest in telephone screening to save time later

TRUTH 43 Face-to-face doesn’t have to be in-person

TRUTH 44 Too many cooks might improve the broth

TRUTH 45 Make haste slowly

TRUTH 46 You may want to hire candidates even when they get a bad reference

TRUTH 47 Beware the “Whizzinator”

TRUTH 48 Be real, even if scary

TRUTH 49 No crystal ball? Try employment testing

TRUTH 50 Graphology: palm reading or valid tool?

PART VI The Truth About Evaluating Candidates and Making the Offer

TRUTH 51 The last one you interview only seems like the winner

TRUTH 52 The one who offers salary information first is the loser

TRUTH 53 Don’t tell candidates why they weren’t selected

 

C. The Truth About Managing People

Part I The Truth About Hiring

TRUTH 1 Forget traits; it’s behavior that counts

TRUTH 2 Realistic job previews: what you see is what you get

TRUTH 3 Tips for improving employee interviews

TRUTH 4 Brains matter; or when in doubt, hire smart people

TRUTH 5 Don’t count too much on reference checks

TRUTH 6 When in doubt, hire conscientious people!

TRUTH 7 Hire people who fit your culture: my “good employee” is your stinker!

TRUTH 8 Manage the socialization of new employees

Part II The Truth About Motivation

TRUTH 9 Why many workers aren’t motivated at work today

TRUTH 10 Happy workers aren’t necessarily productive workers!

TRUTH 11 Telling employees to do their best isn’t likely to achieve their best

TRUTH 12 Not everyone wants to participate in setting their goals

TRUTH 13 Professional workers go for the flow

TRUTH 14 When giving feedback: criticize behaviors, not people

TRUTH 15 You get what you reward

TRUTH 16 It’s all relative!

TRUTH 17 Ways to motivate low-skill, low-pay employees

TRUTH 18 There’s more to high employee performance than just motivation

Part III The Truth About Leadership

TRUTH 19 The essence of leadership is trust

TRUTH 20 Experience counts! Wrong!

TRUTH 21 Most people THINK they know what good leaders look like

TRUTH 22 Effective leaders know how to frame issues

TRUTH 23 You get what you expect.

TRUTH 24 Charisma can be learned

TRUTH 25 Make others dependent on you

TRUTH 26 Adjust your leadership style for cultural differences, or when in Rome…

TRUTH 27 When leadership ISN’T important

Part IV The Truth About Communication

TRUTH 28 Hearing isn’t listening

TRUTH 29 Choose the right communication channel

TRUTH 30 Listen to the grapevine

TRUTH 31 Men and women do communicate differently

TRUTH 32 What you do overpowers what you say

Part V The Truth About Building Teams

TRUTH 33 What we know that makes teams work

TRUTH 34 2 + 2 doesn’t necessarily equal 4

TRUTH 35 One bad apple spoils the barrel

TRUTH 36 We’re not all equal: status matters!

TRUTH 37 Not everyone is team material

Part VI The Truth About Managing Conflicts

TRUTH 38 The case FOR conflict

TRUTH 39 Beware of groupthink

TRUTH 40 How to reduce work-life conflicts

TRUTH 41 Negotiating isn’t about winning and losing

Part VII The Truth About Designing Jobs

TRUTH 42 Not everyone wants a challenging job

TRUTH 43 Four Job-design actions that will make employees more productive

Part VIII The Truth About Performance Evaluation

TRUTH 44 Annual reviews: the best surprise is no surprise!

TRUTH 45 Don’t blame me! The role of self-serving bias

TRUTH 46 The case for 360-degree feedback appraisals: more IS better!

Part IX The Truth About Coping with Change

TRUTH 47 Most people resist any change that doesn’t jingle in their pockets!

TRUTH 48 You CAN teach an old dog new tricks

TRUTH 49 Use participation to reduce resistance to change

Part X Some Final Thoughts About Managing Behavior

TRUTH 50 First impressions do count!

TRUTH 51 People aren’t completely rational: don’t ignore emotions!

TRUTH 52 Employee turnover can be a good thing

TRUTH 53 Beware of the quick fix