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The Busy CEO's Short Guide to Attracting & Hiring World-Class Product Managers

The Busy CEO's Short Guide to Attracting & Hiring World-Class Product Managers

How To Hire A Players

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Introduction

Finding A Players can be quite a challenge.  Employees can differ from one another as much as night differs from day.  Two employees might have the exact same educational and experience level and yet their performance and ability to fit in with your company will be much different. 

This is because everyone does not have the same level of work ethics and personality also plays a huge role in their ability to adapt to your business vibe. 

In this handy guide we will give you tips on how to hire A Players.  Our guide focuses on finding these awesome employees who will make running the business a lot easier and also allow you to create a positive work-friendly environment that benefits everyone’s morale. 

The Pre-Hire Phase

As an employer, you are looking for creative ways to grow your business to the point where you will need to hire more people. Not only will you need to hire more employees, you will also need to work with various external entities such as suppliers, clients and associates as your contact list expands. Handling everything by yourself can be quite tough.  And that is where your most trusted employees with their professionalism and can-do come into play. Those with the right skills can take more workload off your shoulders so you can stay flexible. Here are a few ways to get prospective candidates to work for you. 

 

Post on job boards: These days, online job boards have become a reliable resource for anyone looking for work. Places like Indeed, Monster, and even local job boards are visited frequently by job seekers. If you are posting a job opening, it’s important to give the description of what it entails. Include skill and educational requirements as well. And yes, it’s always good to target those with experience (but at least give a chance to those who may not have it to apply as well).

(If you’ve already been to a job board and can’t find your ideal product manager, that’s when we recommend that people come to us) 

Job Fair Recruitment: One of the best places for an employer to find the right people are at job fairs. You can do these yourself or have some of the higher level management members do the recruiting for you. This is your chance to meet face to face with those who might be more of a good fit for your business and the work environment. And it gives you a chance to use your instincts and get a good read of the person on how they act, if they can be trusted in “crunch time” situations, and so on. 

Consider Referrals: There may be a time where someone in your business will be able to refer a job seeker to you. In that case, you’ll need to make sure they go through the proper application process. By the time you get the application (and the confirmation about the referral), it will be up to you to honor that referral and give that person a chance to be looked at and possibly interviewed. 

Find A Specialist Headhunter: It’s best to think of a headhunter as an investment instead of a cost. Making a mis-hire is the most expensive mistake that your company can make. The right product management recruiter can prevent you from losing time and money. Reach out to us if you’re tired of wasting your time, money, and company with the wrong hire.

Hiring Phase

Now that you have a pool of interested applicants, it’s time to whittle them down to a certain number. This is where you’ll be playing a process of elimination. And it can come down to a good amount of factors. Here are some things that you as an employer may potentially disqualify a particular applicant:

Lack of experience: The experience requirement may be subjective depending on the employer. However, you may be stringent about it. But it all depends on how bad you want the role filled. If you are indeed willing to train the right person and they have less than the required experience, you can do so.

Lack of problem-solving skills: There will be times when an employee will be faced with problems that are not as complex as they should be. You will be able to put this to the test during the employee interview process. Be creative and ask questions about a certain problem scenario.  

Not possessing a positive attitude: An employer knows a thing or two about a positive, professional attitude. And you might pick that up in an instant during the interview process. If the prospect doesn’t feel enthused or excited, that is a red flag and a good indicator to move on to the next applicant. 

But here’s what you need to look for in order to hire A Players for your team:

Decent competence in certain skills: Let’s face it, you are not going to find someone who is the grand master of Microsoft Excel. But you can find someone who is decent enough to know the basic ins and outs. Competence is important because you can trust that person to get the job done properly rather than an employee who has no idea what they are doing. 

Have a positive, can-do attitude: This is key. If an employee has a positive attitude it will eventually spread throughout the entire team. The happier the employees are, the higher their willingness to work will be. And that morale building environment does start with you as well. 

Find out what kind of value they can provide: While you might find an applicant that talks about themselves constantly about how they can do this or that, it’s important to challenge them with this question: “What kind of value do you believe you will bring to [your business]?” The answers may vary, but you can use your better judgement on how well an applicant can ask that question.

Final Thoughts

As an employee, it’s always important to find reliable employees who are willing to show up on time and be ready to work with a positive mental attitude. The hiring process may be tough at first (as will finding the right people). But over time, you will be able to figure out what consists of a good employee so they will be easy to work with (and they will be happy to work for you in the process). There is nothing more effective than employees who put their fellow co-workers and you over themselves every time.

How To Hire The Right Product Manager

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Introduction

If you are a business owner, hiring the right kind of people is crucial to your overall success. Finding the right candidates often isn’t the easiest of tasks.  In this guide we are sharing some great tips and hints to help you identify the most skillful and best suited project manager for your position. 

What Is A Product Manager?

A product manager is mostly responsible for the development of various products that are created by the company itself. They will be also focusing on various key aspects of a product (including the business strategy itself). They must also specify how the product will function for its users and manage the launch of the features and the products themselves. They will be able to determine whether or not such ideas are fitting to the business model or philosophy. 

What Is A Product Manager’s Role?

The product manager has some responsibilities that will fit into their role. They are as follows:

Overall Strategy: The product manager will lay out the strategy with the development team. The communication will help the team understand the intent behind the product and the release. The product manager must develop a road map that begins with the start of developing the product all the way up to its initial release. 

Handling Releases: A product will likely be released in phases. And it might not be available to the general public just yet. It is the responsibility of the product manager to set a certain timeline and schedule so the development team can be able to engineer the intended features by a certain time period. This also includes testing and even making revisions if and when needed. 

Developing and Executing Ideas: Every product is born from an idea. So it is important for a product manager to find the right kind of ideas that will form into a new product. This will mean that the product manager must communicate with the appropriate people in the business. For example, the product manager should consider communicating with the marketing department over the course of time. The marketing department will often perform some kind of market research that will determine their target customer’s needs, desires, problems, and so on. 

Managing and Prioritizing Features: It is important for a product manager to arrange the features in order of priority. The more there is a need to solve a customer’s problem, the quicker a feature will be released within the product in order to solve it. This is where the product manager and the engineering team must work together to ensure that each feature is working properly with little to no flaws. 

How To Hire The Right Product Manager

The hiring process to fulfill a position (be it management or low-level position) is a daunting task. But you can be able to make it easier on yourself by learning how to take the necessary steps that will make hiring a lot smoother on your end. Here are some things to do when you are looking for the right kind of product manager:

Be patient: Keep in mind that hiring someone to fulfill a position is a time-consuming process. It won’t be filled at the snap of a finger. That’s because you need to find the right person who is competent, qualified, and able to perform the task without any trouble. 

Consider experience and competence: If you are posting a job or recruiting potential applicants, it is important to know of two things: how long have they been involved in product development and how much of an understanding do they have of it. Someone on a development team may rise to the role of product manager after developing a few products here and there. The better experienced a candidate is, the more likely a fit they might become. 

Find someone who can solve problems, no matter how complex: A product manager must be a problem solver. Things can go wrong during the product development phase. It is up to the manager to look them over and determine the best solution going forward.

He/she must be creative and have ideas: It’s always a good idea for a product manager to always be in search of ideas. They can find one when they least expect it and be able to relay something to the marketing team or anyone involved with customer research. Remember, every successful product comes from an idea that is aimed to solve a customer’s problem (and not create some kind of marketing hype). 

Find someone who is OK with failure: In business, no one ever gets it right on the first go. And if they say otherwise, they’re probably lying. It’s OK for something to fail over and over again. A great product manager must be prepared to go back to the drawing board and try again if things go south. If you find a candidate with that level of patience, they should be a high priority in your book. 

Scout LinkedIn references:  LinkedIn is a great tool for finding suitable candidates.  On this social site you can seek candidates based on their qualifications and skill level, check out background information and even invite candidates to apply for your opportunities.

Ask friends and colleagues:  The best candidate for your job isn’t necessarily one who is without employment at the moment.  In many cases, the right employee might not be in the market for a job at the moment. Asking colleagues and friends about prospective candidates with the right skill level is a great way to find those hidden gems who never even applied for your advertised positions.

Use a headhunter: A headhunter is someone who seeks out suitable candidates and approaches them with an attractive job offer.  These experts are superb for negotiating terms with prospective employees or to convince them to abandon their current position and make the switch to your firm. 

Shortlist your candidates:  It is important to keep a file on all available candidates and to shortlist your candidates as you continue scouting for talents. Shortlisting and making notes on all the strong points and positive attributes of candidates is a great way to weed out your list and to identify the best from the rest.  

Final Thoughts

Your product manager will be someone who will be taking on a crucial role in your business. And they will be the point person when it comes to the development of products. They might be one of the central people that will be filled to the brim with ideas that may excite you enough to learn more. Find someone who will fit the mold in becoming a great product manager and your business may propel to new heights. Be sure that your hiring someone who is competent, knows how to manage a team, and is able to communicate and collaborate regularly with various levels of your company.

How To Make The Right Hire

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Introduction

Every employer or recruiting agency wants to employ the best, highest qualified and most suitable candidate for a job.

 But the hiring process is not easy. Candidates who say the right things and offer the best resume are often a wrong choice resulting in nothing but misery to their colleagues. 

 The main goal is obviously to find employees who are willing to work hard, cultivate a positive attitude, and play a role in meeting your business goals. In this guide we are sharing some advice on the best way to find candidates that fits your business and projects to perfection. 

Tips On How You Can Find The Best Hire

Keep in mind that there are different ways of how the hiring process goes. It is also important to be creative in the process when it comes to finding the right kind of people. Here are just some things to consider when you are tasked with the responsibility of hiring people to work for you:

 

Know their real aspirations and goals: If there is one thing that a hiring manager must know about, it’s the job applicant’s goals regarding their future. What are their professional goals? What do they see themselves doing a year from now? Five years from now? You are looking for someone who might be willing to grow within the company. That way, they can be able to stick around for a long time and work in various high-level positions (or if they feel like it, they can take on a high-level position elsewhere but leave on a positive note if and when the situation warrants it). 

Screen them right: There are hiring managers that won’t even bother contacting a job applicant’s references. And that’s not a smart thing to do. No matter how desperate you are looking to fill a position, it’s good to get in contact with the applicant’s references so you can gather intel on who the candidate really is and whether or not they are really a good hire or not. The applicant can say what they can say, but the references can either match it or tell a different story. 

 

Get them to discuss their past successes and failures: Knowing about a job applicant’s handling of their past successes and failures can tell you a bit about them. So it’s important to make a note of what they have accomplished. But don’t take a lot of stock into their past. Anything could have changed between then and now. And a job applicant may have learned their lessons of the past and applied them to the present. 

 

Use your better judgment without saying a word: We all know not to judge a book by its cover.  But this is easier said than done. Many candidates you interview will be quite the opposite of what you might expect from their resumes.  Many resumes are also altered to seem impressive when the actual skills are lacking. It is important to test a candidate’s competency through comprehensive questioning.  It is also important to communicate directly with a candidate to see if the candidate is a suitable personality for your business vibe. 

 

Test their competence: To test a candidate’s competency you will need to compile a questionnaire prior to the interview.  This is especially important if you are a recruiting agency who might not contain in depth knowledge on a specific career or job.  The questionnaire should test the candidates’ understanding of the job as well as relevant concepts surrounding the position. You can also include questions about the candidate’s experience with specific scenarios to see if they are worthy candidates.

 

Ask them thought-provoking questions: It’s important to make the interview process as thought-provoking as possible. Get them to take a simple challenge that involves a problem that can be solved with ease. You can also ask them questions relating to situations that could occur assuming they were already hired. Be creative with the questions but don’t make them complex. You can be able to get a good read on their character, their problem-solving abilities, and anything that may be pertinent to the job at hand. 

 

Drop any bias you may have: Sure, going to a fancy Ivy League school is nice. But that doesn’t mean they should have favorability over someone who went to a four-year college that isn’t Ivy League or prestigious. This is another reason why you should dig below the surface when interviewing or screening a job candidate. One of the best ways to find out if a candidate is worth their salt is to question the experience level.  In many cases, experience is better than book knowledge. For young candidates who might not have much experience you could compose a questionnaire that tests their understanding of duties relevant to the position.  

 

Don’t be afraid to use your instincts: Let’s say the interview is going well. But something doesn’t seem right. You feel a bit uneasy and could not put your finger on it. At this point, it would be ideal to just wrap up the interview when necessary. If anything, when it comes to the hiring process it’s always good to trust your gut over logic each time. So if your instincts tell you that this might be the right fit for your business, act on them.

Be patient: Not every job opening will be filled at the snap of a finger. It’s important to take your time when you are covering your bases. Talk to the references, screen an applicant’s past work history, go over the interview notes that you took, and make sure that you weigh what you like or didn’t like about each candidate. 

Final Thoughts

Nothing is easy to do when you are trying to hire the right kind of people. And it will be in your best interests to use the tips above so you can be able to screen and hire the right people who will be a great fit for your company. Keep in mind that the hiring process may take some time depending on how it’s all set up. But with just enough patience and the ability to screen each candidate at a steady pace, you will find someone who might fit the mold soon enough.

How To Create A Scorecard For Topgrading

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Introduction

If you are interviewing job applicants by way of topgrading, then it might be a bit difficult to make the determination between Applicant “A” or Applicant “B”. To make the process easier so you can make the best decision, it’s important to consider using a scorecard.

 

This guide will show you how to create a scorecard for topgrading and how you can use it appropriately so you can choose the right high-quality hires each time you are tasked to find the right people to fill certain positions. 

What Is A Topgrading Scorecard?

A topgrading scorecard is used internally within a company. The layout is similar to what you see in a job description. The only difference is the latter is often used in outside recruitment. Typically a scorecard may consist of the following elements:

Job purpose: This is basically an executive summary of the job and the responsibilities that will be fulfilled by the person who has assumed the role. It will describe some of the key roles of that job and who the person in that position will report to. 

Topgrading

Responsibilities: This section of the scorecard will outline the specific responsibilities that will need to be done. The employee must fulfill these responsibilities on a regular basis. Since this is described on a scorecard, they will be “graded” on how well they perform the tasks. 

 

Specific Measures Of Success: This will be an outline of goals that you need to determine so they can be met by your employees. Depending on the industry or type of business, these elements of success can be measured by revenue, cost, customer satisfaction and so on. 

 

For example, one specific goal that could be set and achieved would be to increase revenue by 25% from the previous quarter or obtaining a customer satisfaction rating of 90% or higher. 

 

The Scorecard itself: The scorecard is used by all managers to keep track of employee achievements.  This report lists all achievements or accomplishments that the employee handled or completed successfully.  The scorecard can include various types of data such as the following;

 

Strategic agenda – This is the focus point or agenda of each achievement.  For example a target amount of sales for a sales agent. 

Measurements – Scorecards can also include measurements so employees can monitor the achieved performance against the desired performance. A good example is a sheet that offers information on how much a projected sales target was exceeded or missed. 

 

Data – Financial and non-financial data items that might relate to a specific responsibility or goal in the achievement.  For example; for a sales agent this would indicate the target sales amount, actual sales amount and the difference between these two amounts. 

 

Impact – A portfolio which might display the impact that the achievement has for the company or project. For a sales person this impact can be quite huge.  Positive sales promotes the overall well being of a company a great deal. 

Topgrading

Why Use A Topgrading Scorecard?

Here are a few good reasons why using a topgrading scorecard might be a good thing for your business:

Makes performance reviews easy: Topgrading is useful in not just the hiring and training process, but it can also be used on an occasional basis to help determine an employee’s overall performance. If you are an employer that does performance reviews on a regular basis (like every quarter), then a topgrading scorecard can be useful in determining an employee’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, you can also be able to let your employee know of which areas may improve between now and the next review (if need be). 

 

It helps you filter out the good from the bad: This is key in the hiring process. You can keep score of your job applicants and be able to set a minimum total score. If they fail to reach a certain score, then they will be disqualified. You can also determine the percentile of how well each job applicant will score if they have attained a passible score (i.e.– top 10%, 25%, or other). 

 

It can decide who is more ready for a higher position: Consider the following: you have a sales manager who just accepted the position to become a district manager for a different company. Now that the position is open, you can go to your topgrading scorecards and determine which employee might fit the mold in becoming the new sales manager. This could give you a good idea of who might be a worthy candidate to interview and eventually elevate to the position. 

How To Create A Topgrading Scorecard

If you are planning on creating a scorecard for the purpose of using it for the hiring process or evaluating your employees, it’s important to know the basic layout of it. Here are some things that you need to consider adding to your scorecard when creating one from scratch:

 

Set a clear job purpose: This will give those who are responsible for scoring a clear understanding of what the job is. The hiring manager and the applicant must both have an understanding of what the job entails so the latter will be able to perform it with competence. 

 

Responsibilities: This is pretty self-explanatory. This section should have specific descriptions of how the applicant (and later employee) should perform the job. Be sure to list key responsibilities and not create a long laundry list that might be considered overwhelming. 

 

Consider your business goals: How much revenue are you looking to generate this quarter? How high should your customer satisfaction rate be this month? It’s up to you to determine which goals need to be set and achieved so your employees will take their jobs seriously in order to meet those said goals. These are known as the “specific measures of success”. And you can be able to pinpoint who might be able to go above and beyond and determine which employees may be underperforming and why. 

List competencies: You must know what competencies are needed in order to hire or employee to perform the job properly. From there, you can be able to score them on a scale of 1 to 5. Determine which factors may dock an employee a point. While you are scoring employees or hires, use your better judgment on how well they perform a certain task. 

Final Thought

If you are looking to make sure that every employee in your business is performing at high-quality levels, it’s always good to have a scorecard for topgrading handy. Once you have one structured and set in place you can use them to determine who will be the best possible hire and also who are your best-performing employees as well.

What Is Topgrading?

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Introduction

When it comes to having a high-quality workforce, it is your responsibility to ensure that it will stay that way. Not only will it be easier for you to run the business, but your employees will be very happy and will run into fewer problems that may affect the overall morale. Topgrading might be just the tool you need in your efforts to hire the right kind of people regardless of what position is open. You could hire those who are qualified to take on management-level positions or regular level employees who will come in with a positive mental attitude and help you achieve the desired goals of your business. 

Topgrading Defined

Topgrading is something that is more creative in the interview process compared to the same old tired techniques you see with most hiring managers. The intention of topgrading is to help hiring managers and other decision-makers determine which job applicant is the best possible hire based on how well they answered the questions (including being able to solve problems in a mock scenario). 

 

One of the goals that a hiring manager or someone performing the interview must accomplish is getting a good idea of that job applicant’s personality and their professional background that might be considered relevant enough to the position they are looking to fill. In fact, if you want a more thorough, deep-diving method for interviewing candidates, topgrading will be a much better approach compared to asking the traditional line of questioning. Not to mention, the interview process using topgrading is more structured.

 

With topgrading, the interview process does become more of a challenge. And it’s one of the more creative ways to determine who is a worthy candidate and also determine those who have not done enough to move on to the next round. 

How Topgrading Is Done

The topgrading method is rigorous. Each step is performed with thoroughness and set with guidelines that must be followed at the discretion of a hiring manager or anyone who may be in charge of the hiring process. The following is an example of how topgrading could be performed:

 

Work history screening: This is where you can screen those who have the relevant experience so you can be able to tell the ones who know what they are doing and what the job entails from those that don’t. It is also a terrific way to identify high performing employees. 

 

Phone Interviews: Applicants who have passed through the screening will now undergo a telephone interview. This will be more useful as opposed to in-person interviews that may wind up being a waste of time for a hiring manager and the now rejected applicant. In other words, things can go south quickly. At this stage, this will give the hiring manager a chance for the applicant to discuss their job history and also talk about their experiences with the company, their successes, failures, and whatever pertinent information that a hiring manager may need. 

 

Test their competency: Now, you can be able to do another interview with an applicant so you can determine whether or not they have the competence to perform the tasks and responsibilities of the position. The process will typically last an hour depending on the candidate. 

 

Topgrading interview: This is where the fun begins. This interview can be done by someone who is at a much higher level than the hiring manager. At this point, you will probably need to know about a job applicant’s past experience that may be relevant to the job. And you will also be able to get them to open up about their successes, failures, goals, and even key achievements. 

 

Most interviews are chronological starting with the applicant’s high school years and all the way up to the present. The interviewer can focus questions surrounding achievements to see if the candidate understands tasks effectively.  

 

They can also question strategies used to achieve goals and the resources candidates are happy to leverage to ensure that the job is executed accurately.  This is valuable information for identifying employees with good leadership skills or those with terrific social skills. WIth this information, employees can be leveraged in work areas where they will have the biggest impact. 

 

Reference calls: At this point, this will give employers an idea of how the applicant stacks up. While you may be impressed with what they have to say, learning about them through other references will be key. Someone who has a past history or being a high performer and a good worker will not have any issue giving you the information about their past employers as references. Once you have enough information you can place each candidate within a certain tier (i.e. — top 10%, etc.). The higher the tier, the better the chance an applicant could be hired. 

 

Post-Interview and Hiring

Keep in mind that once you have selected the candidate, the process continues. This will include onboarding the new hire. Plus, you’ll get a good idea of what their strengths are and determine which areas are considered points of weakness so you can be able to help them improve and perform their job with better efficiency. It is important to make sure that the new hires are also trained and ready to use what they’ve learned. It’s not wise to throw them to the wolves and leave them not knowing what to do. 

Final Thoughts

Topgrading is one of the best ways to find the best-qualified candidates possible for whatever position you want to be filled in your company. Whether it’s for lower-level employees or for someone with enough managerial experience, using topgrading is more important today in order to put together a business that is staffed with employees who are knowledgeable, willing to work on solving problems, and be able to deliver more than expected results that will lead to achieving your business goals. If you are a hiring manager looking to change the hiring process, consider topgrading as something to try out. You may be surprised by the results it can produce.