How To Hire Team Players

Teamwork is proven to be a far more important selection factor than technical skills, and hiring processes that are too technically focused, while sacrificing a teamwork assessment focus, are unlikely to correctly separate star performers from the mediocre. I think that assessment processes should incorporate a huge team-working assessment element, and below I have described how to do this.
1. Team activities and  games: if the budget allows one can incorporate a few business games that involve team work and identifies the team spirit if existing in the person.  situational tests that enable individuals to let their guard down are the best indicators for team work.
2. Interview questions: questions that involve decision making and identifies the thinking process of the person are great identifiers of team spirit.
3. Critical incident tests:  where some situations are given and the participant has to make decisions related to team work.
4. Group discussions: an easy and cost effective method to gauge the team spirit and leadership initiative of an individual. Often the participant is unaware or so caught up in scoring Browney points that he forgets that he has to make the group discussion successful rather than proving how great is his thinking and reasoning ability.
5. Observation method: just observing how a person interacts with people he encounters in the process of his interview and visit to the organization.
Candidates with good collaborative and interpersonal skills should excel in this kind of environment. Great team players will be able to build a fast and strong rapport with all members of the group, and will be comfortable disagreeing with certain suggestions or raising potentially controversial questions without antagonizing members. They’ll also be comfortable with expressing their opinions and will be able to do so in an appropriate way.
Another behavior that you are likely to observe in great team players is an ability to work well with peers, subordinates and senior staff. So, try and have a diverse interview team in terms of grade so you can observe the individual’s ability to collaborate effectively at all levels of the hierarchy. Great team members will be able to develop a good rapport at all levels of the hierarchy.
You might also want to bring in a representative from outside the immediate team in which the candidate would be working. Perhaps you could include a representative from an internal customer or department that the job incumbent’s team work closely with. This enables you to observe how well they can build a rapport with looser connections/weaker ties and avoid developing a silo mentality with the close, stronger ties in their team.
At some point in the interview (perhaps at 2^nd interview stage), you might want to do an office tour so you can see them collaborating with team members in the actual team environment of your office. True team players and workers will excel in this kind of team interviewing environment as it will give them the opportunity to display their social team-working skills and mentality.
I believe that the most reliable way to assess team-working skills is to observe them interacting in a team setting as I have shown earlier in the article. Good luck with your next hire.

About AQumen : Should Job hoppers be ignored?

About AQumen : Should Job hoppers be ignored?

Should Job hoppers be ignored?

In the not so distant past loyalty was a valued asset and the employee serving a long tenure in an organization was well rewarded with promotions and increments. Today with the  advent of competitive cut throat environment. Loyalty take a back seat to competency and performance. Recently I sat in to counsel an employee who had been a non performer in the same company for 11 years. What do you do with such people? and should these people be preferred only by the merit of them hanging on to the same job due to  his lack of competence or initiative? should this mans credentials take precedence over another performer who may have jumped jobs in the interest of his personal growth but in process also grown an organization that he worked in?
Should a recruiter blindly reject the job hopper?
Some reasons why I feel we should consider them...
Adaptability:
Job hoppers can gain more experience and skills from each new environment they work in, so more roles, environments and sectors means more experience. As well as this, job hoppers may have honed their relationship building skills, being able to quickly integrate into teams and build rapport. And using their skills in different jobs and environments will have helped to keep their skills sharp.
Signs of ambition and high achievement:
In the throes of competition a change in job could be a sign of takeing innitiative and being ambitious for progress.
Risk Taking Ability:
The old is known and the new can be a risk. The ability to leap into the unknown and make a chance of it can speak for itself. Job hopping can also show that a candidate is courageous and not afraid to take a risk. Many employees stay in roles they are not happy with because it’s the path of least resistance and they are not comfortable with the risks associated with moving. Job hoppers are often bold enough to take the risk of making the move. It means they may be more flexible and may be prepared to take on new roles in your company.
There is an obvious criticism of job hoppers in that they may be unsettled and aimless, but, many people go through a phase in their career when they are simply searching for the right role and this is commonly seen at the start of one’s career; so, don’t frown too hard on graduates who change roles very frequently in the first five years as they may just be looking for the right fit – and who knows your company could be it. This can also happen to candidates who are in career transition. Just make sure you interview them closely to ensure your role is right for them.
Also, don’t over look the fact that job hopping could be simply as a result of the difficult climate – and the job hopping may have largely been out of their control, e.g. relocation, redundancy, mergers and acquisitions, reduction in permanent contracts, etc. In these circumstances, job hopping does not necessarily suggest a lack of commitment or focus, which means they can still be an asset to your business.
looking forward to your views on this ...............