4. Bio-data I’m not referring to DNA. Instead, bio-data is biographical data. Here’s how to benefit from bio-data. Grab files on your superstar employees. Look for common work-related experiences or education that most of them have.

3 For example, one company I consulted to wanted to hire salespeople to sell a service (not a product). Upon examining bio-data of company’s superstar salespeople, we found high-achieving salespeople had worked selling services. Most of company’s underachieving salespeople worked in sales, also. But, underachievers sold products, not services.

Interestingly, same company also discovered most of its superstar salespeople worked at McDonald’s for six months or longer in high school or college. This showed an interest in serving customers (after all, that is what McDonald’s stresses) plus stick-to-itiveness (lasting six months or more in a normally high-turnover job). So, start digging into your bio-data treasures located in employees’ files.

5. RJP RJP stands for realistic job preview. To do an RJP, (a) show applicants exactly what they will do on-the-job if you hire them, (b) let applicants think about it for 24 hours, and (c) then ask applicants if they want to take job. Research shows employers who give detailed RJPs get two results: 1. less employees accept job offer 2. applicants who accept job off are less likely to turnover

Importantly, an RJP needs to be super-realistic. For example, I consulted to a tire company. It had great difficulty getting people to work in “purgatory” – a horribly hot room in which hot, just-made ties were moved on tire molds. Anyone who worked in “purgatory” room spent all day covered in sweat and thick white dust. No wonder most people quit that job after short time!

I recommended using RJPs. The company worried, “Applicants won’t take that job if they know much about it!” I said let’s try RJP anyway. Sure enough, after seeing this awfully hot and dusty job, only a small percentage of applicants took job. But, those who did stayed a long time. Note: They were people who acted distinctly “odd,” and relished feeling hot and sticky all day!

Do It Now If you remember these points, you can hire best – and profit from it: 1. what you see is not all you get – but it is best you will see 2. use customized tests, since tests predict job success better than other methods 3. take advantage of predictors right under your nose, including referrals from winners, bio-data, and RJPs.

Importantly, you can start these valuable methods today so you immediately start hiring best.

© Copyright 2005 Michael Mercer, Ph.D.

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

If you spent twenty hours a week developing your own system, assuming it takes you only 6 months to create, how much money does that system end up costing you? Let’s assume it would cost you $100 an hour to get a homemade system built. For six months of work that’s 480 hours for a grand total of $48,000 for a homemade system. Whoa! That’s a rather large investment. But it could be worth it if you get what you need, right? What You Get

With a self-built system you get a custom system developed specifically for your shop, with your pricing, cost structure, and business methods. The only problem that exists is that all of this is obtainable without building a system yourself. The company that Steve decided to go was Cyrious Software. Cyrious gave him personalized software system he needed including his own custom pricing, cost-structure, and business methods in addition to what he wouldn’t have with a self built system, such as technical support. Steve said if he would have kept with his self-built system not only would he have to support it himself but he wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of features like reports, invoicing, CRM, and Activity Manager.

What You Don’t Get

With most estimating and business management systems on market today, you usually have option of purchasing support. This is a major aspect you can’t get with a self-built system. Most software users believe that support is extremely important, and as Stan Yamamoto from FASTSIGNS® said “Software is only as good as support system behind it…The support offered by Cyrious surpassed all of my expectations.” A good tech support staff is there to help solve questions, problems, or issues that arise, when using software. Who would you go to in order to get answers to software issues with a self-built system?

Buying Software Includes Perks!

Being a software customer, usually entitles you to additional perks. For example, Cyrious Software offers customers on support, software upgrades at no extra charge. These upgrades include many different advancements and improvements to software. If you choose to build your own system, you become one responsible for developing, testing, and supplying upgrades. Unless you plan on staying with same old system year after year, upgrading your system will cost you additional time and money. If you are unable to provide continual support to enable your software to grow with your shop, is it really wise to go forward with building a system yourself? Think about it.