Dr. Patricia Kapper

Stuart, Very thoughtful answer, Stuart. You know as well as I that there are those who will sit back thinking that, given the economic conditions, employees will stay, no matter what. That may not be the case, however. Failing to retain employees has many spinoff consequences. For example, students feel the loss and may choose to leave as well. Other employees need to pick up the responsibilities of the former employee until a replacement can be found and that can impact employee morale. Failing to be the leader that you encouraged can also affect morale, resulting in less or poorer… >>>

Jason, I am sure there are other things that you do as well such as preparing the room, making the candidate comfortable, etc. The question, too, need to be open-ended so that candidates need to respond with more than just a yes or a no. I applaud you for preparing some auxiliary questions to dig a little deeper into the candidate's responses. It is always better to be over prepared with too many questions rather than not having enough. Also, have some standard questions which you ask of all candidates so that you have a basis for comparing the candidates.… >>>

Linda, You are fortunate to have established that kind of a track record. As the continuity, loyalty, and longevity continue within the company, all of those factors will translate into growth for the company and a potential need to recruit outside of the company. Bringing in new blood can provide many positives to support your current operation. You also raise a good point with your 360 assessment approach. When recruiting from outside of the company, you don't have the opportunity to conduct a 360 assessment since few, if any, may know the candidate. When recruiting from within, however, this is… >>>

Scott, I like your approach, Scott. Those job responsibilities become a part of the job description and the qualifications for the specific position you are looking to fill. That can then drive the development of the questions you will ask each candidate. It is also important to make certain that those questions are open ended so you have a reasonable chance of really assessing the candidate's fit/qualifications for your position. The blend of questions is appropriate since that gives you an opportunity to follow up on questions you might still have. For example, there may be something from the resume… >>>

Jennifer, Your suggestion of a reality show is an interesting approach. I would expect that it would be a low-cost method of hiring but would take lots of work to set it up. Your assessment of the tasks which they would need to complete would need to be very explicit. You would almost need to do a rubric for each and every task. There will still need to be an interview with all of the usual steps: review of resume, write questions, identify interview team, review/compare candidate performance with interview team following the interview and production activities, etc. In the… >>>

Cassandra, Employee continuity, or lack thereof, negatively impacts the entire organization. The task for which the former employee was responsible still need to be done, so continuing employees need to step up to the plate and take them on. Depending on how management handles that scenario can positively or negatively impact morale. You mention finding the right candidate and then training takes time and the longer that goes on, the more negative the impact. Short term fill-in is usually okay as long as that employee is recognized for taking on additional responsibility and some additional compensation provided. The policy/procedure issue… >>>