Friday, December 7, 2012

Should I hire over-qualified people?


Should I hire over-qualified people?
(or will they leave as soon as something better comes along)
Professional development series

This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.

If you are interested in more training in these areas,
please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered the “hiring” topic (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

I recently received this question from a reader:
I currently have several positions open, and the job descriptions clearly outline the experience necessary. I’m drowning in applications from overqualified people. I know with the unemployment rate so high, people often have noticeably more experience than the jobs they apply for require.
However, I fear that if I hire overqualified applicants, they will leave as soon as a better job comes along. So I prefer to hire candidates ready to move up or laterally. Is it worth considering overqualified candidates? Or can we add something to the job description to improve our applicant pool?

You are in a great position. My recommendation is not worry about the future if you hire an over-qualified person. Focus on hiring the perfect person for the job. And let “what if” take care of itself.  Let’s take the following examples:

  • Some people you feel are ‘over-qualified’ are actually looking for a lower-pressure position. They want something they can comfortably and expertly handle in 5-days/8 hour time slot. Because they are (as you describe) “over-qualified”, your position is perfect for them.  They may not be looking for their ‘next challenge’.

  • Don’t assume you understand someone’s reason for applying for your job. They may want a slight career change.  Although they may seem over-qualified for the specific task you have in mind; their interest is more in a change of industry or culture.  Maybe their next challenge is getting experience in this new industry or area.   Perhaps your job offers more travel (or less travel).  It can be any number of things that attract.

  • Understand why you are hiring.  If you are in a production spike and need someone that will ‘hit the ground running’, hiring an over-qualified person is your best option.  If your spike is temporarily, consider contracting or temp-to-hire, until your product needs levels out a little.

  • To ease your discomfort around this topic, be explicit in your expectations. Explicitly announce your expectations and intentions (including the minimum length of expected stay). It’s perfectly acceptable to include the expectations to stay in this particular job for 8 months, 1 year (whatever your minimum expectations are). You can also include a contract penalty for leaving the position early (1 week, 2 week pay, whatever). This will weed-out the people that are merely using your job as a jobs-gap (bridge to another position).

  • Continually outline future career opportunities and advancement routes in both the technical and management ladders.   This helps retain the high-performance employees.
 Conclusions:
Don’t wait until the top-performers leave your company to figure this out.  If you don’t invest in your current employees’ career development, then you will be left with only low to mediocre performers (which make your management job that much more difficult).  Avoid offering lateral positions merely to ease your discomfort with hiring ‘over-qualified’ candidates.  Offer lateral position when it comes with additional promotion or skills advancement opportunities for the employee that is making that change.
If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/
The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies
If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Friday, November 30, 2012

When to hire?

When to hire?
Professional development series
This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas,
please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.

In the recent interview with Steve Wynkoop (founder of SSWUG.org) we covered the “hiring” topic (don’t miss another professional newsletter tip—signup for the free newsletter here). This article covers the topic in more detail.

In today’s tight economy, many employers are under financial strain.  They need additional staff and resources to get the products and services out the door, so that they can expand and sell more products.  On the other hand, ‘right now’ money is tight to hire new employees.   Because of this dilemma, many  businesses wait much too long to hire and fail because of this.

So – when is the right time to hire?

The simplest answer to this complex question is: “When the important work isn’t getting done.
There will always be an abundance of work on our plates.  But when we see that the MUST DO tasks are not getting done at the quality, accuracy or speed that our business needs to be successful – then we need to reevaluate where we are placing our resources.  We need to constantly focus on the business goals, mission and vision (versus being distracted from the everyday items).

For instance – if the ‘nice-to-have’ items are getting done; instead of the MUST DO – there are several things we can do:
1)      Reposition resources from the ‘nice-to-have’ items and onto the MUST DO.
2)      Train inside personnel to move onto MUST DO items
3)      Contract help for a short-term to close the gap on the MUST DO.  This is useful if it’s a temporarily blip or gap.
4)      Replace/retrain ineffective personnel (Performance Improvement Plan or PIP).  This is useful if the MUST DO is fully staffed but just not being executed effectively.
5)      Place ineffectual employee on a PIP plan and subsidize with a temp-to-hire personal.  If PIP fails, you can convert the temp-to-hire. (For more information on how to implement a PIP, contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info )
6)      Add additional staff, if you have the funds and time to interview.
7)      Outsource or hand-off to business partner/affiliate, if you don’t have the funds or time to interview/train.

Hiring isn’t always the silver bullet.

Quick steps to move forward:
1)      Identify the staffing gap (clarify the business goals that are not getting accomplished).
2)      Outline the skill set and time frame needed for the gap.
3)      Research alternative ways to fill that gap that fit your budget and time frame.

Conclusions:
Don’t wait until the last minute to hire a candidate that requires training.  Merely hiring someone will not solve the problem.   When you hire, you ultimately increase administration tasks, expenses and learning curves.  The delay caused by the inevitable learning curve places additional financial and morale strain at the workplace. Consider your natural business cycle with hiring.  If you are hiring in a spike consider more qualified candidates.  If you are hiring during the slow season and are ramping up for your next spike, then you have time to train someone less experienced. If you don’t have time or money to hire, consider outsourcing or handing-off to business partners/affiliates with a referral revenue plan.

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/
The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies
If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Saturday, July 4, 2009

A Leader Among Followers…

Creating Dynamic Followers as Prerequisite for Leading

By Laura Rose

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

Dwight D. Esienhower

Introduction

We hear that for an effective organization to smoothly evolve and develop there should only be one Indian chief and many Indians; one leader and many followers. And we continuously applaud, train and promote leadership positions.

The reality is that the majority of most organizations are followers.

Since an effective follower is critical to an organization and its ability to accomplish a mission, should there be some discussion in what makes an effective follower?


To read more:

http://www.rosecoaching.info//Articles/a-leader-amongst-followers.pdf


Laura offers one-on-one career and life coaching, small group coaching, seminars and workshops. You can learn more about her at www.RoseCoaching.info and contact her at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Friday, July 3, 2009

Creating Inappropriate Heroes.

Abstract:

We’ve all caught ourselves thinking and feeling things like: “If I want it done right, I need to do it myself.” “There’s no one else to do it”. “It always falls on me.” “Why am I always the one that has to move/change/compromise/keep the peace, etc.

If we like feeling this way, then there’s no issue. We are creating the perfect scenarios for ourselves. If you want something different, then below are some quick tips to avoid creating that trap for ourselves.


Laura offers one-on-one career and life coaching, small group coaching, seminars and workshops. You can learn more about her at www.RoseCoaching.info and contact her at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info or http://thelaurarose.blogspot.com/


Can't Fine The Time to Do Everything on Your List?

Can't find the time to do all the things that you think you should do?
Combine it with other things you don't have time for.... Ridiculous? Read on...

Need to network, exercise, catch up with friends or family, clear out that closet, write that book, learn a new skill etc? One idea is to try to combine some tasks. Best approach for success is to combine something annoying to do, with something fun.
One example is that I recently scheduled a professional networking "Meet-up" (meetup.com)event with a walk around Shelley Lake. It's a beautiful lake. Fresh air is a good stimulus for creativity and inspiration. And I NEED the exercise. I also want to start networking with friendly and valuable folks like you. So, I'm trying to combine the two. By making an external commitment to be there -- it's now something I can't easily wiggle out of. It's not expensive and it's healthy. Not everyone will be attracted to this type of activity. But the folks that are, will be the kind of folks that connect with me.
Other ideas for combining chores and fun activities:

Read more at: http://www.rosecoaching.info//Articles/Cannot_Find_Time.pdf

Laura Rose
Make Magic Your Norm
www.RoseCoaching.info
Call for a free coaching session.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Why did this happen, NOW???

by Laura Rose

Introduction
When we first start playing with The Law of Attraction, Deliberate Creation, and The Art of Allowing, we latch onto the thought that we create our own reality and experiences. When we first start playing with LOA, we may become intent on finding out why and what we did to create this crummy thing that just happened. We may get overly frustrated and distraught with the idea that “I’m working so hard on directing my thoughts, and it’s just not working”.



While I agree that we create and attract our experiences, I’m not entirely convinced it’s beneficial to us to examine, review and replay the circumstances of a “crummy experience”.

I am not even convinced that we should be working so hard on directing our thoughts.

This is why ….

To read more, go to: http://www.rosecoaching.info/Articles/why-did-this-happen.pdf


Laura Rose
Make Magic Your Norm
www.RoseCoaching.info
Call for a free coaching session.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Business of Busyness

12 Tips to Realistic Scheduling

Whether you're managing a software development project or coordinating your children's soccer and dance lesson times, schedules are helpful tools for orchestrating a sequence of events. Most schedules involve a start and end date, and include tasks, task duration, and dependencies between tasks. But no matter how well you plan for a series of events, unexpected events will compete for time and threaten deadlines. People you hadn't anticipated will step into your plans and begin to influence, control, and often complicate things. When we do not handle unexpected events and the interpersonal elements well, our schedules fall apart.

To read more go to
http://www.rosecoaching.info/Articles/Twelve tips for realistic scheduling in a software development project.htm