Hiring Process

Karl Christianson
President and CEO
Veris Marshwinds Partners


The turbulent economic conditions of the past few months have resulted, in many cases, in the reduction of staff. As conditions begin to improve, many of these open positions will be filled through the hiring of new employees.

The hiring process generally begins with the review of a resume supplied by either an agency or your own internal recruiting process. When reviewing a resume, there are many factors to consider. Your primary goal is to interview and hire the right employee, one that satisfies the needs of the open position. A simple method, which we employ when analyzing a resume, is to rate the candidate based on the following factors

Some of the selection criteria we utilize when reviewing a resume are listed below:

1. Does the candidate's resume reflect exceptional performance at prior jobs? This includes awards, recognition, etc. Are those achievements measurable?

2. Does the candidate display a history of job stability, little job hopping?

3. Why is the candidate seeking a new job? Is the reason justifiable?

4. How long has the candidate been on the job market, and where else has he/she interviewed?

5. How sophisticated are their presentation skills, which can be judged by their past positions and duties?

6. What types of companies have provided them with employment in the past? If your company is a large, sophisticated organization, and the applicant has always worked at smaller organizations, will that applicant have the experience and depth to successfully function in your firm?

The answers to the above questions should be positive and provide you with a feeling that the resume you are reviewing indicates a possible hire. The next step, and possibly the most important, is your initial interview, whether on the telephone or in-person. You should be able to conclude at the end of the initial meeting whether this applicant is the type of individual who is knowledgeable, affable, speaks well, has a pleasant appearance and, in summary, would be a great addition to your organization.

If all of the above factors are positive, you may consider that you have found a low risk applicant, and should move forward with your normal in depth screening procedure, which should include the checking of references. If all subsequent interviews and reference checks are positive, you have probably found a winner whom you should hire.
Good luck in filling your next open position.

New Security

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

With any grand event, comes those who will do what they must to survive.

In today's economical climate, that means there are more and more highly skilled workers being laid off, and in turn are using their skills for ill-will.

In this case, it was a laid off engineer who was cutting communication cables and trying to extort money from Comcast and Verizon.

Well the FBI has a trojan virus for that:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Security&articleId=9131778&taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1

It's been mentioned elsewhere that with the ongoing lay-offs, there will be an onslaught of cyber-crimes.

In the past, we've always said that the biggest security threat to an organization is their own employees. It's only a matter of time before someone is disgruntled by a promotion, or lack there-of; or maybe it's not something at work.... it may be skyrocketing debt that is forcing them to consider unseemly means of income.

So a few points:

- If you're currently unemployed, or feel that you may be soon; now is the perfect time to re-train and find some new skills, focus that fear and look at training.

- If you are a hiring manager, about to make the decision for a round of lay-offs; be aware that it may require some special planning beyond doing it on a Friday afternoon.

- If you are a security manager, now is the time to be proactive; if you don't have a continual improvement plan in place, seek consulting and/or training to get a concrete plan in place to manage your risk


Of course above all else, never forget the gifts we've been given. It is up to us to ensure they are used for good will.


...then again, I'm sure the FBI won't have any problems finding you....



Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.

Focused Fear

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

I've written on our other blogs in the past about some of our more momentous airline incidents, well this story stuck me as very compelling :

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/14/plane.emergency/

A gentlemen who had some flight experience with single engine propeller planes was on a flight, and by sheer luck, noticed the pilot become unresponsive behind the wheel of a 10,000lb turbo propeller airplane :

"The only thing I knew how to do up there was talk on the radio," White told WINK. "I've only been up there (in the cockpit) one other time. I made it a point to ask the pilot -- not Joe, but another one -- 'How do I talk on the radio?' and they showed me what button to push."

While he spoke to the air controllers, they actually called someone who knew how to operate the airplane and were able to walk him through landing safely.


So why do I mention this article? I think a few points are very important.

1 - Being aware and curious of our surroundings, even though it may not be "your job" ; never stop asking those around you questions. Someday those little tid-bits of information will come in handy

2 - Trusting those with knowledge to guide you safely in an emergency; it's sometimes quite apparent when we are out of our realm, know that moment and embrace the fact that by trusting those around us, we can make it back to solid ground in one piece

3 - In those moments of peril, be personally or with a project, focus that fear. Sometimes it's the fear of failure, the fear of budget overuns, or the fear of personal impact; Focused Fear is an asset. Embrace it.


Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.

Living All In

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

I hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful weather we had this weekend in Philly.

This time of year always makes me optimistic!

It just feels like we were meant to be here, doing what we love to do.

A great friend and mentor runs a Construction Knowledge website and blog, he posted a 'vonderful-good' article on one of the gentlemen from "Band of Brothers" ; you should check it out:

http://constructionknowledge.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/are-you-living-all-in/

My favorite quote is how :
"When Forrest was injured on his jump into Holland, he was waiting in a make-shift field hospitals for a doctor to move up to the front. When the doctor finally came to treat him, Forrest realized his family doctor from the little town of Fogelsville, PA was also going to be his doctor in Holland. He loved that wild coincidence."

I challenge everyone to approach this year with renewed vigor, it is time to put our defensive strategies aside, and go "All In."



Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.

Post Implementation Review

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

We've talked about metrics, and the way they drive continual improvement plans, another crucial component of the improvement process is the Post Implementation Review.

This is where all the players assemble, and review, for better or worse; what went well and what went wrong.

In the world of ITSM this is triggered by the Change Manager, after a change has been documented and completed, the Change Manager ensures that a Post Implementation Review is completed.

Enclosed is a "mashup" of the US Airlines Hudson Crash, if you thought the accounts were harrowing, wait until you see what happened in realtime.

Crash Simulator

Credit to Gizmodo


Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.

Butterflies

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

As we begin looking ahead to Springtime and the changes ahead, it's important that we plan for the future.

In previous posts I've mentioned that I enjoy Gardening, and it is the planning phase that will largely account for whether my garden is a success or a failure.

Although it's nice to sit outside and watch the butterflies, due diligence and proper planning are a neccessity.

Below is a clip from AIG that I feel points out the irony quite well.



Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.

Shuttle Launch Perspective

	Neal Leininger Senior Consultant Veris Associates, Inc.

In Project Management, perspective is everything.


When an event occurs, on the surface it may appear to be a "deal breaker" or something that will drastically change the quality of the product to be delivered.



It's at times like that, an overall perspective can turn that issue into an advantage.



Speaking of perspective, these folks decided they weren't content watching the space shuttle launch from the ground, so what does one do in this situation?



Jump out of an airplane and video tape it.

Never forget to look for other people's perspective too, sometimes it takes a truly radical independent consultant to help develop a fresh perspective!



Like Veris.





Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.