How to Hire a Champion

How to Hire a Champion

by David Snyder
Released January 2008
Publisher(s): Career Press
ISBN: 9781564149640

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Book description

“David Snyder continues to impress me with his keen insight and ability to synthesize emotional intelligence and how it translates into success. We have long been practitioners of the concepts David categorizes in this must-read book.”

—Jean-Pierre Sakey, CEO, Headway Corporate Resources

“David’s whole philosophy of ‘Picking The Best and Challenging the Rest’ is backed up by real science, powerful tools, and insightful metrics. He has helped us increase our energy level, development and performance—for the largest fashion industry trade show in the world.”

—Chris McCabe, vice president, MAGIC, The Business of Fashion

“This book takes extremely critical and complex issues in hiring and makes them amazingly simple. It is a gift.”

—Sid Reynolds, CEO, The Signature Agency

“David Snyder offers insightful and practical advice that will make a tangible difference in hiring and keeping talent.”

—Joe Healey, president, Joe Healey Performance, and author, Radical Trust

Meticulously outlining an arsenal of cutting-edge tools and strategies tied to predicting performance and a “passion for excellence,” David Snyder has developed what may be a paradigm shift in our understanding of the way high-performing individuals can be identified, selected, and professionally coached.

Drawing on Snyder’s interviews with a team of performance and hiring experts nationwide, How to Hire a Champion will help all leaders to build:

• A better model and process for selecting and retaining high-performing individuals.

• Stronger teams and a customer-centered, results-driven culture.

• A self-directed “culture of greatness” where top performers and top managers in all departments help and inspire each other.

David Snyder holds a graduate degree in psychology from Harvard, owns his own consulting practice based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is managing director of executive recruitment for Headway Corporate Resources, a leading innovator in human capital solutions with offices nationwide. Snyder’s clients have also included industry leaders in health care, communications, fashion, education, and manufacturing across the United States. His first book, How to Mind Read Your Customers, was listed first in “Best Books of the Year” by Sales and Marketing Management magazine.

Table of contents

  1. Praise
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. Introduction
  8. PART I - Understanding, Appreciating, and E valuating the Character of Top Performers
    1. Chapter One - What Is the Foundation of a Success-Based Mentality?
      1. Following the Yellow Brick Road
      2. People Skills, Character, and Science
      3. Why Character Analysis Makes Hiring Easier
      4. Managers, Trust Your Knowledge!
      5. Success Is a Team Activity
      6. Laying the First Stones of a Successful Hiring Process
      7. How Much Process Do You Need to Find the Perfect Fit?
      8. Insider Secret: Character Comes First
      9. What Are Your Thoughts on the Character Connection?
      10. What Character Traits Matter Most to You?
    2. Chapter Two - Building a Selection Model Based on Character
      1. Character vs. Entitlement
      2. How Do You Know When Entitlement Is Not There?
      3. Character vs.Personality
      4. Selection as an Art and a Science
      5. Making It Easier for Champions to Find You
      6. Insights on Character and Culture From the Marines
      7. The Character of Your Culture
      8. Candidate-Employer Alignment
      9. Asking Your Top Performers to Help You Analyze the Job Skills
    3. Chapter Three - Anticipating Performance Needs
      1. Keeping It Simple
      2. Anticipating the Moment of Truth
      3. Incorporating a SPAR Analysis Before the Interview
      4. A Two-Tiered Approach to Deeper Job Analysis
    4. Chapter Four - Getting the Candidate Involved in the Assessment Process
      1. Using These Results
      2. An Example of Excellence in a Prescreening Assignment
      3. Using PowerPoint Resumes
      4. Ask the Candidate How He or She Would Like to Be Evaluated
    5. Chapter Five - How to Use Assessment Tests
      1. Who Will Take a Final Stand for Your Candidate and Say Yes or No?
      2. Eight Critical Questions and Steps for Assessment-Driven Interviews: The Core ...
      3. The Wrong Candidates Will Not Make It Through the Process
      4. Two Ways to Get a Competency Assessment: Internal Assessment and Validated Assessment
      5. Measurable Traits That Make Sense to Measure
      6. Examples of Work-Related Competencies and Traits
      7. Becoming “Competency-Conscious”
      8. Using Validated Selection Tools With a Competency Focus
      9. Sales Force Analysis Using Validated Tests
      10. Limitations of Assessment Tests
      11. Character-Based Reference Checks
      12. Additional Advantages of Using Validated Competency Models
      13. Strategic Tools for Talent Management
    6. Chapter Six - Character, Performance, and Heart
      1. The Holy Grail of Excellence
      2. The Case for Balanced Optimism
      3. The Scientifically Validated Power of Optimism
      4. Optimism as a Source of Happiness
      5. Other Ideas on the Traits of Peak Performers
      6. The Fundamental Principles of the Will to Succeed
      7. Practicing the Art of Happiness
      8. The Woman Who Wouldn’t Give Up
      9. Making a List of High-Achiever Traits
      10. Questions That Get at Authenticity
    7. Chapter Seven - Character, Performance, and Values
      1. Helping Candidates Assess Their Values
      2. An Unsung Values Hero
      3. The Emergence of the Personal Attitudes, Interests, and Values Instrument
      4. Six Core Measurable Values
      5. The Six Business Motivators: A Deeper Explanation of Values in the Workplace
      6. Helping Candidates Talk About Their Values
    8. Chapter Eight - How Ego Needs Affect the Job Match
      1. Basic Behavioral Psychology in the Workplace
      2. Emotional Intelligence 101
      3. Are They Being Authentic or Just Telling You What You Want to Hear?
      4. How Values and Psychology Both Play a Role in Job Happiness
      5. Naomi’s Heart vs. Aaron’s Heart
      6. Management Checklist for Motivating Different Types of Employees: Key Questions ...
  9. PART II - Creating Cultures of Greatness
    1. Chapter Nine - Building HighPerforming Organizations: Where Do You Start?
      1. Helping Your Team Aspire to Excellence
      2. Thought Exercise for Managers: Mapping Expectations
      3. Coaching With Assessment and Metrics
      4. The Marine Model of Coaching
      5. Another Training Tip for Managers: Give Your People a Writing Assignment
      6. The Importance of Optimism in Management and Coaching
      7. Additional Management Class on Retention Strategies
      8. Basic Principles for Increasing Incentive
      9. Critical Steps for Retaining High-Performing Individuals
    2. Chapter Ten - Aligning Employee Competency With Management Competency
      1. Competency Model Example One: Healthcare
      2. Healthcare Service Competencies: Maintaining a Service Mentality in Grueling Conditions
      3. Special Competencies of Senior Leaders in Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, and ...
      4. Call Center Selection: How Productivity Is Affected by Selection and Management
      5. Additional Traits Required of Call Center Managers
      6. Common Barriers to Productivity at Call Centers
      7. Common Executive Observations at Call Centers
      8. Lack of Confidence Issues
      9. What Managers and Agents Agree on in Hiring
      10. Guiding Principles for Superior Management and Higher Retention
      11. A Deeper View of Mentoring: Tips From a Man Who Should Know
    3. Chapter Eleven - The Chemistry of Trust: Key Strategies for Hiring Better ...
      1. Executive Character Reflects a History of Discipline
      2. Creating Character-Centered Job Descriptions for Executive Positions and Postings
      3. A Committed Strategy in Character-Based Selection
      4. Cultures of Entitlement vs. Cultures of Stewardship
      5. Character-Based Teams as a Business Model: An Interview With J.P. Sakey, CEO, ...
      6. A Few Additional Thoughts on the Nature of Trust
      7. Legitimate Leadership Involves Two-Way Trust
      8. The Seven Essential Traits of Legitimate Leaders
    4. Chapter Twelve - Raising the Bar: Simple Strategies for Encouraging Perpetual Aspiration
      1. How Accountability Works in Paradise
      2. Team Meetings at MAGIC: A Behind the Scenes Look at Training and Accountability
      3. Behind Closed Doors
      4. Putting the Big Picture Under a Microscope
      5. How Leaders Can Work at Change: Key Questions
      6. Back to Moral Intelligence
    5. Chapter Thirteen - How to Measure and Improve the Effectiveness of ...
      1. Best Practices in Internal Marketing: Strategies for Building Continuous ...
      2. The Importance of Reinforcing Messages
      3. How Communication Failure Occurs
      4. Summary: Key Benefits of Improved Communications Processes
    6. Chapter Fourteen - Toward a Greater Vision of Human Potential
      1. Skills of the Noble Profession Defined
  10. Bibliography
  11. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: How to Hire a Champion
  • Author(s): David Snyder
  • Release date: January 2008
  • Publisher(s): Career Press
  • ISBN: 9781564149640