Your
success is
important
to us
Mondo Search Group
Mondo
The Destination
Search Group
for the Best Hidden Talent
The
Destination
for
Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917the
W Best
www.mondosearch.com.au
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Your
success is
important
to us
Recruiting and bringing on
board new staff can play a
significant investment in your
energy and time. In addition, it
is a rewarding experience when
the right candidate is selected
and inducted well.
On the other hand, it can be quite
disappointing if you make a rushed
decision about your new staff. At
Mondo Search Group, we recognise
this as a great opportunity for
our team to give you some
recruitment tips and examples
that enable you to conduct your
selection process more effectively.
In particular, we know that
hiring new staff can be quite
overwhelming for new managers
and that is why we created
this pack for you, to make your
job easier. By using this pack
we hope to give you and your
staff the support you need so
that you can choose the best
talent for your company.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Our consultants
would be happy to
work with you so
we can ensure that
you meet the right
people for your
long term success.
This is the best way for you to
avoid needless staff turnover
and in the end you can also
save a substantial amount of
money in the hiring process.
We believe that you and
your manager/s will find
these tips useful.
Your Success is Important to us
Tips on…
1.
Defining the role
2.
Benchmarking
3.
Interview Tips and Format
4.
Intelligent Interview Questions
5.
Interviewing – Final Thoughts
6.
Reference checking
7.
Psychometric testing
8.
Contract negotiations and offers
9.
Successful induction and on-boarding
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Your Success is Important to us
1. Defining the role
The old saying is “you hire on aptitude and fire on
attitude!” In defining the brief and job description
for the person you wish to hire, consider not just the
technical skills but also
the soft skills - your company culture
that you want the person to fit.
Two companies can be in the same industry
however their culture may be very different.
Candidates may have impressive experience
but they may have a different approach to
areas like customer service, motivation and
engaging people. By having a clear brief, you
can ensure that your interview and assessment
strategies deliver the best candidate – not
just the more experienced candidate.
The team at Mondo Search Group can
help you understand the different cultures
of organisations in your industry
2. Benchmarking
You may have internal staff to consider
for the role, as well as external people
that are referred through to you.
We encourage you to consider early on in the
process your approach to internal candidates and
referred candidates. We suggest benchmarking all
candidates – if you want the best person for the role,
you want to know their strengths and weakness.
For example, there are some roles that are critical to
your sales, profit or other key KPI’s – even between
departments and from one hierarchy level to the
next, the soft skills required may be very different.
Having a fair and transparent assessment of that
person’s skills and development areas will provide
you with more insight into possible training
and development needs for each individual.
We can also ensure
that all candidates
on your shortlist
meet both your
technical and cultural Our aim is to
requirements.
ensure that you get
the most helpful
information and best
recruitment outcome,
irrespective of the
source of talent.
The team at Mondo Search Group can help you with
an objective benchmark of the candidates’ strengths
and development areas, which may be very useful
for on the job training and development purposes. .
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Your Success is Important to us
3. Interview Tips and Format
3.1 Interview Tips
• Have competency based questions prepared.
Know your objectives i.e: What is the job
that I am recruiting for? How am I going
to assess whether that person has the key
competencies? What style of person will fit
best into the team for now and in the future?
• Read the candidate’s resume before they
arrive, mark notes and have some questions
ready. Look for any gaps, inconsistencies and
results orientation of their resume. Assess
the quality of their written communication
and their attention to detail.
• Try to be on time for a candidate and show
appropriate courtesy. The interview process
is a two way one and good candidates may
have more than one option. Candidates will be
making judgments and should be left feeling
good about the process and the company.
3.2 Interview format
As a guideline, an interview will normally go
between 1-1.5 hours – broken up as follows.
Settling the candidate: 5 – 10 minutes
The first five minutes - greeting the candidate,
having someone get them a glass of water and
just using “small talk” to get them relaxed – will
give you a feel for their style and to take note of
your first impressions. Things such as the attention
to detail they have given in their dress sense,
presentation style, eye contact and level of energy
will normally be evident within the first five minutes.
Assessing their career aspirations:
5 – 10 minutes
Assess how actively they are looking to change
from their current organisation, the type of role
that they ideally seek next and the reason that they
are interested in coming to see you. If a candidate
is “headhunted” rather than an active applicant,
the interview between you and them would take a
subtly different approach. It may not be suitable
to ask a question such as: “So what is the reason
you want to come and work for our organisation”?
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Outline the structure of the interview:
2 minutes
Spend a few minutes explaining how you wish
to conduct the remainder of the interview, the
fact that you will want to ask them a variety
of questions about their experience, then go
into more detail on the role and give them
the opportunity to ask you questions.
Assess their technical and functional skills:
30 – 45 minutes
This is one of the two most important parts
of the interview. Be clear on the objectives of
the interview and what you want to assess.
Have five key areas you want to assess and
hone in on areas you have concern with
rather than digging deeply on every issue.
Sell the employment opportunity
to the candidate: 10 minutes
This is where some employers fall down. It is easy
to focus on assessing whether the candidate is
right for the organisation that no time is left for
communicating the benefits and match of the role
to the candidate. Your knowledge of a candidate’s
career aspirations and skills will enable you to
present your role in the most positive light.
Let the candidate ask questions:
10-15 minutes
If you ask a candidate “What are your thoughts
on the role as I have described it to you?” rather
than an outright: “Are there any questions?” they
are more likely to be open and ask questions.
Listen to the type of questions they ask – it will
give you a perspective of how they think.
Closing the interview: 5 minutes
Always close an interview by giving a
candidate some feedback as to your overall
impression of them, explain what will happen
next and a likely time frame. Thank them for
the opportunity to meet with them. Make
sure they leave with a positive impression of
yourself and the organisation you represent.
Your Success is Important to us
4. Intelligent
Interview Questions
Adaptability
Listening
Able to maintain effectiveness in a fluid
or changing work environment.
Listens and seeks to understand others.
• Which change of job did you find
the most difficult to make?
• Give us an example where you feel your
listening skills proved crucial to an outcome.
• Tell me about the biggest change at work that
you have had to deal with. How did you cope?
• Describe a situation where you
had to deal with an angry or
disappointed customer or client.
Business development/sales orientation
Conflict management
Able to develop new business.
Encourages creative tension and differences
of opinions. Anticipates and takes steps to
prevent counter-productive confrontations.
Manages and resolves conflicts and
disagreements in a constructive manner.
• What plans have you developed to
ensure you met a sales target?
• What are you most delighted
about in your sales career?
Compliance
Conforms to company policies and procedures.
• How do you ensure compliance with
policies in your area of responsibility?
• Tell me about a time when you wanted to alter
an established company policy or system? Why
did you do it and how did you handle it?
Communication
Communicates effectively, listens sensitively,
adapts communication to audience and fosters
effective communication with others.
• Describe a time when you had to win someone
over, who was reluctant or unresponsive.
• Tell me about a meeting or presentation
that did not go well. If you had your time
again, what would you do differently?
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
• Tell me about a time when you felt that
conflict or differences were a positive
driving force in part of your life. How did you
handle the conflict to optimise its benefit?
• Tell me about a situation where conflict led
to a negative outcome. How did you handle
the situation and what did you learn from it?
Creativity and innovation
Develops new insights into situations; questions
conventional approaches; encourages new
ideas and innovations; designs and implements
new or cutting edge programs/processes.
• Tell me about a project or situation
where you felt that the conventional
approach would not be suitable. How
did you derive and manage a new
approach? Which challenges did you
face and how did you address them?
• Tell us about a time when you had to
convince a senior colleague that change was
necessary. What made you think that your
new approach would be better suited?
Your Success is Important to us
Decisiveness
Flexibility
Makes well-informed, effective, and timely
decisions, even when data is limited or solutions
produce unpleasant consequences; perceives
the impact and implications of decisions.
Modifies his or her approach to achieve a
goal. Is open to change and new information;
rapidly adapts to new information, changing
conditions or unexpected obstacles.
• Tell me about an important decision
you made recently that affected
others. How did you go about it?
• Describe a situation where you had to
change your approach half-way through a
project or task following new information.
• Give me an example of a situation where you
had to make a decision without the input
of key players, but knowing that these key
players would judge you on that decision
(e.g. superior unavailable at the time).
• Describe a situation where one of your
projects suffered a setback due to an
unexpected change in circumstances.
• Tell me about a time when you had to make a
decision without knowledge of the full facts.
Acts based on his/her convictions and not
systematically accepts the status quo.
Delegation
• Tell me about a time when you departed from
the “party line” to accomplish your goal?
Able to make best use of colleagues.
• Give me an example of a project or task
that you felt compelled to complete on your
own. What stopped you from delegating?
• Give an example of a situation where
you reluctantly delegated to a colleague.
Why were you reluctant?
External awareness
Understands and keeps up-to-date on local, national
and international policies and trends that affect the
organisation and shape stakeholders’ views; is aware of
the organisation’s impact on the external environment.
• Give an example where you underestimated
the impact of your decisions on stakeholders.
• What are the external forces/trends that will
affect your current business over the next
12 months and how should your business
be reacting?
Financial acumen
Understands the financial drivers of business.
• What opportunities have you identified to
improve the financial results of your business?
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Independence
• Which decisions do you feel able to
make on your own and which do you
require senior support to make?
Negotiation
Able to convince others to alter an expressed
point of view, gain agreement and acceptance
of plans, activities or products.
• Tell me about your toughest recent
negotiation experience?
• Describe a time where you failed to persuade
others of idea that you knew was the right one.
Integrity
Able to maintain job related, social,
organisational and ethical norms.
• When have you had to bend the truth to
achieve your aims? Why did you do so?
How do you feel you could have achieved
the same aim in a different way?
• Tell me about a time when you held your
ground when you felt others were proposing an
approach that, in your view, was not ethical.
• Have you ever broken the law?
Your Success is Important to us
Leadership
Acts as a role model. Anticipates and plans for
change. Communicates a vision to a team. Has
the ability to coach and mentor team members.
• Describe a situation where you needed to
inspire a team. What challenges did you meet
and how did you achieve your objectives?
• Tell me about a project where you achieved
success despite the odds being stacked against
you. How did you ensure that you pulled through?
• Tell me about a time when things went
wrong. How did you recover and what
have you learnt from that incident?
• Tell me about a time when you were
under real time pressure
• Tell us about a situation where you faced
reluctance from a member of your team to
accept the direction that you were setting.
• How does your behaviour alter when you
are stressed?
• Describe a project or situation where you had to
use different leadership styles to reach your goal.
Risk taking
• Tell me about a time when you were
less successful as a leader than you
would have wanted to be.
• Tell me about the person on whom you have
had the most influence in their career.
Takes calculated risks, weighing up
pros and cons appropriately.
• What is the biggest recent risk that you have
taken? How did you handle the process?
• Tell me about the person who has had
the most influence on your career.
• Please describe one of your current or recently
completed projects, setting out the risks involved.
How did you make decisions? How do you
know that you made the correct decisions?
• What is the most difficult people
issue you have faced recently?
Sensitivity
Organisational awareness
Demonstrates an understanding of underlying
organisational issues and the ability to
work effectively cross functionally.
• Describe a time when you failed to engage
at the right level in your organisation.
Why did you do that and how did you
handle the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you had
to gain the cooperation of a person
who did not report to you.
Awareness of other people and environment
and impact on these. Takes into account
other peoples’ feelings and needs.
• What problems has one of your staff
or colleagues brought to you recently?
How did you assist them?
• Tell us about an unpopular or controversial
decision that you made recently? What
thought process did you follow before making
it? How did your colleagues/clients react
and how did you deal with their reaction?
Teamwork
Reporting
Manages reporting and administration requirements.
• What reporting have you been responsible for?
Resilience and tenacity
Deals effectively with pressure, remains
optimistic and persistent, even under
adversity. Recovers quickly from setbacks.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Contributes fully to the team effort and plays
an integral part in the smooth running of
teams without necessarily taking the lead.
• Tell me about a situation where you
played an important role in a project as a
member of the team (not as the leader)
• How do you ensure that every member
of the team is allowed to participate?
• Give me an example where you worked in a
dysfunctional team. Why was it dysfunctional
and how did you attempt to change things?
Your Success is Important to us
5. Interviewing
– Final Thoughts
1. “Let go of insisting the candidate knows the
company’s industry, customers and markets”.
This is easy to learn if the candidate is smart.
Insisting on industry knowledge may result in
recycling the same old ideas, baggage and having
to “un-teach” bad habits whilst missing out on
great talent that can inject fresh blood to a team.
2.“Let go of insisting the candidate has done
the same function/job title elsewhere”.
Successful organisations consist of multi-skilled
managers with broad perspectives to handle
the unexpected challenges constant in the
business world. Just because the role is a sales
manager’s position, doesn’t mean someone
from marketing cannot do it. Some of the best
HR managers are people who have previously
fulfilled business unit management roles.
3.Assess on intellect, aptitude, emotional
intelligence and competencies relevant to
a role rather than the sector/job function
in which these have been applied.
For example in our experience the best
recruiters have great people skills, quick
thinking minds, ability to deal with diversity
and complexity and who have inquisitive
minds…and these innate qualities are more
important than years in recruitment.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
4.Don’t rely on interviews alone.
Build effective competency based interviews
supplemented with broader assessment
techniques. For example, the unofficial
reference check can be invaluable but must
be done in a way that respects confidentiality
and is unbiased. Observe the follow up and
communication flow between the interview
(how quick are they to follow up?).
5.Avoid cloning the people you already
have, i.e. look to complement instead of
mirroring the skills of the existing team.
6.There is no such thing as the perfect
candidate. If they fit all areas of the brief
and none of the role is a stretch for them,
they may be bored within six months and
you may be looking all over again.
7.Really connect with the person at the
interview, understand their motivators –
what was their upbringing like, did they have
mentors and did they have aspirations?
Your Success is Important to us
6. Reference
checking
The team at Mondo Search Group have a very
rigorous system of questions that we ask each
referee and we invest considerable time and
attention to this process.
Reference checking is critical
to ensure that you are taking
on the best person for the job
with minimal regret later on. Our
consultants invest considerable
time in checking the credentials of
the candidates we consider.
Decide whether you want to
check the candidate with previous
employers – or whether you need
additional checking, such as police,
academic, director disqualification
and other forensic checks. At
Mondo Search Group we are able
to facilitate different levels of
reference checking.
These questions include:
• The dates, organisations and
capacity in which the referee knew
the candidate.
• We investigate the relationship
of the candidate to the referee to
ensure that there is not a personal
relationship that may contaminate
their appraisal.
• We always confirm the
reason your candidate has
left previous positions.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
• We always ask the deal breaker
question “would you rehire them?”
• We probe for strengths
and weaknesses – everyone
has weaknesses and your consultant
will provide insight on the nature
of the weakness: is it a reason for
not progressing the candidate or is
the information valuable for future
training development.
• We can provide reference check
templates.
Your Success is Important to us
7. Psychometric
testing
Some organisations choose to use psychometric
testing, in addition to the feedback from resume and
interview assessments. The challenge is to ensure
that selected tests are effective and
used appropriately.
Testing can provide valuable insight – and the cost
of testing should be weighed up against other areas
of investment in the recruitment process. Testing
can be used beyond recruitment, as a development
tool and can support team building, leadership
development, career development and work-life
balance initiatives. Look for vocational
types of testing as personality based testing
in isolation can be polarising.
The team at Mondo
Search Group can
facilitate
the appointment
of a qualified
assessment centre
and choosing
the right test.
It is important to choose a test that measures the
attributes that are important for your organisation
and culture, rather than the industry as a whole.
8. Contract
negociations
Cash salary is
often a significant
component in any
remuneration
but there may also be other tangible and intangible
factors that have relatively higher value to the
candidate and relatively lower cost to your
organisation. These may include.
• Career development: This is usually more
important to most candidates than salary alone.
What is your organisation’s approach to career
development?
• Flexibility: candidates may value flexibility for
personal or location reasons. Can candidates
work from home or other facilities that your
organisation may have?
• Annual leave: some candidates, for personal
reasons, value annual leave more than others.
Would you consider more annual leave (with pay
or without pay) over and above the standard four
weeks?
• Relocation: where relocation is necessary, will
you offer compensation to help with the costs
associated with relocation?
• Non cash components (a day off for birthday,
gym membership, coaching etc.)
The most common misstep made by both
companies and candidates at this point is to move
too slowly. Not hearing back from an employer will
make the candidate question the company’s interest
and a good candidate may accept an alternate role.
This can be avoided by outlining the decision
making process and timeframes up front.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
Your Success is Important to us
7. Successful induction
and onboarding
An effective employee induction program helps to
set a positive tone and reduces the time needed to
settle into a new role, adjust to the team and
become a productive member of
the business.
If you do not have a
formal induction
program and this is
managed in an ad
hoc fashion, then the
team at Mondo
Search Group can
assist you with a
structured
onboarding program.
Here are some tips to ensure that the
new employee feels welcomed, informed
and is able to get a fast start.
• Have a plan: have a structured plan in place with
deliverables for their first few weeks of work.
Decide in advance what they will do and whom
they will meet, ensuring the plan covers all the
critical meetings, training and duties they will
need to undertake during the induction period.
• Prepare for first day basics: help their first day
run smoothly and demonstrate that you have
prepared for their arrival. Assign someone in
the team who will ensure first day basics are
covered including having their workspace
set up, having login and email details ready,
business cards ordered and that they get
a tour of the building and talk through
considerations such as company culture.
• Be accessible and set regular catch ups: to
encourage a fast start, schedule regular catch
ups to demonstrate your interest in their
progress and provide an opportunity for them
to clarify any concerns. After the initial staff
induction period continue regular scheduled
meetings although these may be less frequent.
• Fast start relationships: key to your new
starter’s success will be how well they integrate
into the team and understand the culture
and formal and informal structures. Provide
an overview of how the company works
and help them to develop relationships to
accelerate their acceptance and impact.
• Appoint a buddy or mentor for their induction:
this will help them navigate the culture,
process and other norms of the business.
• Book an onboarding session with your
consultant: book this session at one month
to ensure the candidate’s expectation of the
role match their own and your expectations
of them match the job challenge. Set clear
goals on how to make it work well.
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au
We look
forward
TO hearing
about your
successful
hires
Mondo Search Group
W www.mondosearch.com.au
Mondo Search Group
The Destination for the Best Hidden Talent
T +61 1300 737 917 W www.mondosearch.com.au