Success for Hire

About the Author

 

Alexandra Levit is the president of her own career consulting firm. She has authored several career-development books, and she is a former nationally syndicated columnist. She has the appellation “Millennial Generation” expert.

In addition, Alexandra is frequently asked to write articles for major magazines and newspapers. She has been on various television programs and talk-radio. As an expert on career development, she has been a consultant to various Fortune 500 companies and the Federal Reserve. And if this is not enough, she also blogs on her website: www.alexandralevit.com

 

Success for Hire is an A-Z guide to attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. Alexandra Levit provides the HR professional with every tool imaginable for ensuring our organizations don’t suffer from the “brain drain.” In the book, she gives us a myriad of sample forms, worksheets, and checklists for hiring and keeping the best. In short, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

 

Attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent is not a hit-or-miss process. It requires a very methodical and rigorous procedure. Yet, for most of us, the process goes something like this: First, we post an ad on one of the major job boards without even thinking that we may not be attracting the type of candidates best suited for the position. Next, we call them in for an interview that consists of a very standard and often rush-to-the-next-candidate format. As soon as we have finished interviewing the candidates, we hire the one we liked the most rather than the most qualified.  When he/she comes to Orientation, this too is rushed, because those mountains of paperwork are calling our names. Then, we send them out to their designated work area and wish them luck and hope they well never ask us for another thing. Finally, we return to our office and breath a sigh of relief that the process is over, and we can go back to doing our administrative tasks.  

 

I don’t believe we intentionally set out to do such a poor job of attracting hiring and keeping superstars.  Most HR professionals have never really been shown how to do it or been given an easy-to-follow process. Thus, if you are looking for a tried and proven way to successfully hire and retain superior employees, you must buy and read Alexandra’s book.

 

In her book’s introduction, Alexandra gives us a synopsis of each chapter. They are as follows:

 

Chapter 1: Analyze Your Required Positions. Here we learn how to carefully analyze the job we need to fill. What does the job specifically entail?

Chapter 2: Search for the Best Candidate. We learn where and how to get a large group of qualified candidates.

Chapter 3: Narrow the Field. She discusses using web-based technology to effectively pre-screen applicants.

Chapter 4: Create a Strategy for Interviewing. We are introduced to a dynamic interviewing process that asks the right questions and employs work simulations that can be related specifically to our individual organizations.

Chapter 5: Do Effective Background Research. Doing a background check is more than just checking for a criminal record. It also requires calling references. Levit provides you with some of the best practices for getting the information we need from references.

Chapter 6: Make the Job Offer. Here we are given the necessary materials for making an official job offer. Alexandra also weighs in on using an employment contract.

Chapter 7: Improve New Hire Orientation: Did you know that an effective Orientation can increase retention by 25 percent? Thus, Levit teaches us how to design a Orientation that will keep them from going elsewhere.

Chapter 8: Develop Strong Training and Growth Plans. She provides us with processes for developing and implementing formal courses, a 90-day training plan, and a mentoring program.

Chapter 9: Achieve Long-Term Retention. Here is where we learn to add to our organization’s bottom line by reducing turnover. Alexandra shows us how to provide advancement opportunities, incentives, promote work/life balance, and foster more effective supervisor/employee relationships.

 

As I stated at the beginning of this blog, Alexandra provides us with a complete and methodical process for attracting, hiring and retaining the “superstars.” We all know that our people are our organization’s competitive advantage. Thus, if the HR professional doesn’t know how to attract, hire or retain the best, or have an effective methodology of ensuring the organization’s talent pipeline is always full, he/she is not doing what we in the HR profession are suppose do best—use our people power to gain a competitive advantage. Thus, if we want to be the best HR professionals around, we must read Success for Hire.

 

 

 

MTV “MADE”: A LESSON ON MENTORING

I grew up watching MTV. Hence, I still enjoy watching it from time to time. One of the shows that has really caught my attention is the show Made. The basic premise of the show is to help a teen achieve their goal over the course of several weeks with the help of a “made coach “. Usually, the coach is an expert in their chosen field.  

 

As I sat there watching these teens work so hard on achieving their goal with the help of their coach, I couldn’t help but think of how important having a coach/mentor really is in helping one achieve their goal or dream. Thus, I decided that I needed to know more about mentoring and began researching it more in depth.

 

One of the things I found is that the American Society for Training and Development found that mentoring, when combined with training, increases productivity by 88 %. In addition, I learned that Business Week Online Magazine reported that over 35% of employees, who are not being mentored within 12 months of being hired, are actively looking for a job. Based on these facts, it really makes me wonder why more companies do not currently have a mentoring program.

 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

 

The HR professional knows that the “war for talent” is on. Therefore, we cannot afford to let another day go buy without implementing an effective mentoring program. I know that my success is the direct result of being mentored. It was my mentor who suggested that I return to school and get a Master’s degree in Human Resources. I can unequivocally say that after graduating, and receiving other offers, I continued to stay and work for my mentor, because I knew there were still things I could learn from him.

 

In short, if you want to reduce turnover, increase employee productivity, and add to the bottom line, you must begin building a mentoring program. After all, it’s the only way we can live up to our appellation “miracle worker.”  

Here’s a link to website that will help you get started in implementing a mentoring program: http://www.bnet.com/2403-13058_23-212133.html