Don't underestimate the power of giving and receiving feedback in the interview process. Feedback helps your company improve your hiring process and it provides a positive “candidate experience” for the interviewee!

Today's Quote:

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard (one minute manager books)

Show highlights:

• The Whys’ of interview feedback

You must first have an interview process:

• Feedback is process improvement

Feedback Challenges:

• Don't have it - Go get it!

• Fear of Discrimination lawsuit

• Is there any reason why you would not hire me

*Mystery creates distrust

What you can and cannot give as feedback:

• Skills

Aaron’s process for giving & receiving feedback:

• Balanced

Rick’s process for giving & receiving feedback:

• Feedback starts at the first contact  (gauge ability to give/receive feedback)

• discuss concerns & fit between career & company goals

• What are your thoughts?

• Ie: recruiter or admin

How to professionally release a person from the process:

• Call Them!

The candidate experience: Integrity & Transparency in the hiring process creates less likelihood of a lawsuit, especially when you leave the door open.

Erin Wilson is the Co-Founder & Talent Engineer of Hirepool, Inc. He has personally interviewed more than 10,000 job seekers. Erin has helped build a company that exited for $640M, and just released a consumer Interview preparation software product (Hirepool.io) being used by job seekers around the world.  

Today we are talking about the chemistry of your team! Look, you can have the greatest product in the world but without a strong team chemistry, your company will ultimately fail.

Today's Quote:

"Skills are Cheap. Chemistry is expensive" ― Mal Pancoast

Show highlights:

• Why chemistry is so important

Elements of good team chemistry:

• Constructive Chemistry

Warning signs of bad chemistry:

• Destructive Chemistry

Monitoring your chemistry:

• Proactive, Honest

Interviewing to uncover chemistry:

• Understanding Yourself & Your business needs…. Vision - opposing working styles

Ways to omit bad chemistry:

• Communicate

J.C. Ruffalo joined the OCTANe OC team in June 2014 and is the Director of LaunchPad SBDC and Investor Relations. JC Mentor's hundreds of companies each year and has assisted LaunchPad companies to achieve over $750 million in capital infusion and, as a result, create over 3,500 new jobs in Southern California.  

Prior to Octane, JC co-founded a small startup (Double Splash Media), which was involved with email marketing. He also worked for LKQ, a large corporation that is the world’s largest supplier of automotive replacement parts, as a buyer and general manager.

 According to Wikipedia, Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. Gamification commonly employs gamedesign elements to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, employee recruitment and evaluation, and more.

We are all used to being gamefied. In fact, our lives have been programmed to do things based on reward. Everything from our GPA to buying a new iPhone pulls from principles of Gamification.  A lot of Companies Gamify pieces of the organization, mainly those associated with revenue.  It is not commonly implemented throughout the whole organization, especially the operational side of the organization. Full organizational gamification has increased employee engagement by 92% and productivity is hitting record strides!

Today's Quote:

“The Game gives you a Purpose. The Real Game is, to Find a Purpose.”

― Vineet Raj Kapoor

Show highlights:

• Discuss the benefits of gamification to your business

Why did your company decide to gamify?

• Our lives are gamified

The gamification you use at iPlace. How does it work?

• Launchpad

Why does gamification work in terms of Engagement?

• Build a culture of performance and healthy competition

Hank Levine is the President and CEO of iPlace USA, which is widely regarded as the highest quality company providing professionally managed sourcing and recruiting services for US-based companies from India. Over the past twelve years, he has helped over 240 American companies establish offshore recruiting operations.

Hank spearheaded the development of a very innovative “company operations system” based on gamification. He was the keynote speaker last May at the StaffingTec conference where he spoke about how progressive companies are using gamification to scale their operations, align company and client goals, improve the health and wellness of their employees, and even eliminate performance reviews.

 Student loan debt is certainly a major issue and yet it is not often addressed in the hiring process. Some would argue that the overwhelming pressure to start paying back the loan often results in a person making the wrong career decision out of necessity. Companies could do more to alleviate some of that pain by targeting talent out of their specific industry and creating benefits or incentives to help with this burden.

“When you get in debt you become a slave.” - Andrew Jackson

Show highlights:

• The effect student loans have on career choices

Ways in which an individual can reduce the amount of student loan debt:

• Planning

What are the inherent challenges related to student loan debt:

• Default on the loan -7 million people are in default

When people make poor career choices because of necessity it impacts the company that they join. The regret over poor job choice does not only impact the employee but the employer as well. Job regret leads to:

• Apathy

How might companies be able to attract the right people by helping to alleviate the student loan debt wound?

• benefits

Dane Petchul is the Founder and President of Oracle College Planning. With a long history of helping people with their retirement in the finance world, Dane shifted the focus to help families – parents and children – identify the best path to take for a financially responsible college experience..

Dane committed himself to helping families carefully protect their life-savings from soaring college costs while ensuring that a proper financial pathway would be in place so that students wouldn’t be saddled in debt after graduating. Therefore enabling them to make better career decisions.

Student loan debt is certainly a major issue and yet it is not often addressed in the hiring process. Some would argue that the overwhelming pressure to start paying back the loan often results in a person making the wrong career decision out of necessity. Companies could do more to alleviate some of that pain by targeting talent out of their specific industry and creating benefits or incentives to help with this burden.

Show highlights:

• The effect student loans have on career choices

Ways in which an individual can reduce the amount of student loan debt:

• Planning

What are the inherent challenges related to student loan debt:

• Default on the loan -7 million people are in default

When people make poor career choices because of necessity it impacts the company that they join. The regret over poor job choice does not only impact the employee but the employer as well. Job regret leads to:

• Apathy

How might companies be able to attract the right people by helping to alleviate the student loan debt wound?

• benefits

Dane Petchul is the Founder and President of Oracle College Planning. With a long history of helping people with their retirement in the finance world, Dane shifted the focus to help families – parents and children – identify the best path to take for a financially responsible college experience..

Dane committed himself to helping families carefully protect their life-savings from soaring college costs while ensuring that a proper financial pathway would be in place so that students wouldn’t be saddled in debt after graduating. Therefore enabling them to make better career

 A majority of the most talented people have terrible resumes. Why? Because they are busy making things happen!

Companies miss out on great people because they never make it past the resume screen. Automating the process and screening for buzzwords is just not an effective tool for finding the right people for your business. We are in the people business when we recruit. So, pick up the phone and judge based on your conversation and not the resume.

Today's Quote:

"Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it."

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

Show highlights:

• Positive points of resumes

What resumes are good for:

• Contact information

What is wrong with the resume:

• Keyword dependent -wrong keywords or no keywords

 Alternate options to a resume:

• Video clips

Effective use of a resume and how to identify great people:

• Just a tool, not a wall

Anita Kanti is the Executive Talent Manager of Huawei Technologises. She is a global business partner and senior manager supporting executive leadership deliverables' for leadership talent acquisition needs for the US and China marketplace.

As both a motivational life coach and strategic talent manager, Anita Kanti offers progressive solutions to help her company and clients optimize their strengths and create a pathway of success. Anita is a proven expert in  talent recruitment, both in leading corporations such as Broadcom Inc., and United Healthcare, as well as building a company of her own, Anita K Solutions. Anita K has combined her expertise in talent development and leadership with her training in motivational techniques to create a unique and effective life coaching philosophy.

Public sector VS private sector!  We put on the gloves in an epic showdown of today's episode, to settle the differences and find out the better career option. Let's see who will come out victorious!

The 3 rounds for the undisputed championship:

• Round 1: Brenda - bashes up the logic behind joining a startup

Round 1: Why do you think it is silly to work for a startup?

• No career security

Round 2: Cons of working for the public sector (federal, state, county, city)

• Slow moving

Round 3: Counter Punches! Closing argument Evidence 

• Pace

Brenda Diederichs has been serving as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the County of Orange since June 2016. Brenda began her HR career at San Bernardino County, while earning her BA in Political Science, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She next worked for the Southern California Rapid Transit District for 10 years in both HR and Labor Relations. While there she earned a law degree from Loyola Law School.

Brenda went on to practice labor and employment law providing and serve as the labor and employment law department chair for two major public law firms for 10 years, before returning to public service as the Executive Officer for Labor and Employment, Human Resources and Training for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She opened her own law firm in 2007, which she operated until returning to public service in 2014 as the Human Resources Director for the City of Riverside. 

We put on the gloves in an epic showdown of today's episode, to settle the differences and find out the better career option. 

The 3 rounds for the undisputed championship:

• Round 1: Brenda - bashes up the logic behind joining a startup

Round 1: Why do you think it is silly to work for a startup?

• No career security

Round 2: Cons of working for the public sector (federal, state, county, city)

• Slow moving

Round 3: Counter Punches! Closing argument Evidence 

• Pace

Brenda Diederichs has been serving as the Chief Human Resources Officer for the County of Orange since June 2016. Brenda began her HR career at San Bernardino County, while earning her BA in Political Science, from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She next worked for the Southern California Rapid Transit District for 10 years in both HR and Labor Relations. While there she earned a law degree from Loyola Law School.

Brenda went on to practice labor and employment law providing and serve as the labor and employment law department chair for two major public law firms for 10 years, before returning to public service as the Executive Officer for Labor and Employment, Human Resources and Training for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She opened her own law firm in 2007, which she operated until returning to public service in 2014 as the Human Resources Director for the City of Riverside. 

As an Entrepreneur or business leader, it is crucial in this market, to brand yourself to attract talented people! One company is developing their managers to become thought leaders and influencers. A fantastic example of how your company can increase engagement and retention.  Making your company safe from guys like me!

 Show highlights:

• Your journey @ Alteryx

What were the challenges you faced when you joined Alteryx?

• Lack of candidate flow, people not responding

Internal/organizational solutions:

• Candidate flow- posted jobs to get recognition

Leadership alignment. Making yourself attractive to the talented people you NEED to hire!

• Start by listening! Demonstrate high EQ

• Leveraging networks, networking as a tool for talent attraction & career development

 Career Focus:

• Own your career development, 20 minutes a week to share interesting content, pictures, write new content.

Strong Process:

• Tight interview plan, no overlapping questions, interview team prepped, own and respect the process.

Meredith Fish is the Global Director of Talent Management for Alteryx, Inc (NYSE: AYX). With over 15 years of Human Resources experience, Meredith has worked in a variety of industries and organizations including retail, finance, real estate, and information technology companies. She has the proven ability to build strong relationships and obtain organizational results. Meredith is an approachable and effective leader who motivates employees to maximize productivity. Her areas of expertise are Talent Acquisition, learning, and development and employee relations.

Today’s show is all about Preparation! Preparation is the first step in conducting an effective Interview. Both interviewer and interviewee parties need to be prepared. Just showing up without an idea of where you are going is the quickest way to lose an opportunity. An Interview without Preparation is really just PreparationH! In this episode we stressed the importance of preparation and how it needs to happen.

Show Guest:

Mark James is the Founder and President of Hire Consulting Services and the author of his new book, “Keys to the C Suite”. (Amazon.com) Mark is a Certified Personnel Consultant and has been providing executive career transition coaching and executive search consulting services for over 20 years. He is also a Certified Partner with the Predictive Index suite of behavior assessments. Mark coaches executives in career transition on a daily basis which makes him an expert in today's topic.

Episode highlights:

• Interviewee/candidate preparation

 Why is it important to prepare for an interview?

• Preparation puts you in the right MINDSET … sets the tone, eliminates surprises

 Interviewee:

• Research the company to determine something that the company may not know themselves

 Hiring Manager (company):

• Research the person

 The dangers of not preparing for the interview:

• Wasted time, frustration

 How to best prepare to get hired:

• Self-assessment, presenting yourself, researching the company

 Best preparation practices to attract the right talent:

• Schedule time to prepare - assuming all else has been covered

Look for cultural fit, evidence of success & transferable skills:

• Performance Metrics- what needs to be accomplished