How To Keep Top Candidates From Falling Through The Cracks

Top people are scarce - just ask any organization how tough it is to attract the best, let alone select the best. At the same time, I'm willing to bet that more top people - the right people for the right jobs - slip through the cracks in the selection process than anyone could imagine or admit. After thousands of dollars in recruiting, interviewing, travel and all the other assorted expenses in time, effort and money associated with attracting top candidates, organization after organization drops the ball on top candidates. And they don't even know it!

Here are ten of the top, invisible ways those cracks occur:

• Failure to understand that recruiting is as much a selling process as it is an evaluating process. To get top people requires as much selling as it does evaluating. And top people are doing just as much evaluating as they do selling. It's a two way street - but it's amazing how many people don't realize that, and take a "I've got something you want" approach. Top people slip right through the cracks when they see that behavior.
• Organization's don't know a top candidate when they see one. That sounds funny, but it's not. It means time hasn't been taken at the front end of the process to identify and define what a top candidate will look like in terms of the really important things.
• Superficial knockout factors: A manager I know will not hire a person who smokes cigars - period. I don't mean someone who insists on smoking cigars at work. I mean recreational cigar smoking - away from work. Apparently this manager had a bad thing happen with a cigar smoker early in his career. Everyone of us has biases about the strangest things - they can and do get in the way of hiring top people. The beard, the frayed collar, the wrong college, speech patterns - you name it - they are knockout factors in many organizations.
• Poorly kept restrooms and break rooms and lunch/dining /meeting rooms. Nothing says a poor environment like a badly served public use area. Nothing can chase top people away more than the appearance of a poorly kept facility.
• Lack of preparation. Nothing speaks to this more than unprepared interviewers, repetitive use of the same questions/scenarios from multiple interviewers - the "tell me about yourself" question. Holes in the interview schedule. Lack of interviewing skills and preparation. Bad choices of interviewers.
• Secrecy. The " don't tell them anything that may tip them off to what we are looking for." If you treat a candidate as a mushroom, it speaks to how they will be treated as employees.
• Poor followup and lack of feedback. "What you do shouts so loudly I can't hear what you're saying." When that top candidate leaves the facility, how long before contact is made? It's amazing how often weeks can go by before a followup call is made to the candidate. The excuse is often that the candidate - if truly interested - should get back to the organization. True - but failure to keep that communication door open on the part of the company lets top people fall through the cracks - without a sound.
• Relying on staff people to maintain contact. If you're a candidate for a HR job, then a HR hiring manager should be the key communication link. But HR people should not be the key communication link for other functional areas. They can coordinate and pester and cajole hiring managers, but the Hiring Manager has to be the link.
• Lack of respect for the candidate's time. I had the misfortune to work with a manager who, as a matter of practice, kept candidates waiting for hours beyond the time set up for an interview. The worst case was a General Manager candidate who waited four hours before finally bowing out. We never saw him again - even though we tried to reschedule him. What a waste - of everything.
• Overly long process. There are so many pressing, proximate things that can keep pushing selection to the back of the line. Before anyone realizes it, months have gone by and no decision has been made. I suspect in many cases a fear of making a mistake in selection has a hand in this. In any case, top people don't have to wait around. They slip through the cracks - and then show up working for a competitor.

Take the time to audit your own process. If you see any of these conditions take action to correct them. Top people are tough to get in the first place, without adding self inflicted conditions as a barrier.

Written by Andy Cox, President

4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com
Copyright 2008 All Rights reserved

How To Increase Your Personal Value

Your personal value is the most important value you can create. Unfortunately, 7 out of 10 people in the US underestimate their personal value. It's easy to do - without even knowing it. It shows up in invisible ways - in risks not taken, jobs not applied for, opportunities not identified, relationships that never occur. It shows up in negative self talk - like "I could never do that!" or "I'm just a ------."



There are so many messages given since childhood : "don't bite off more than you can chew, " be careful," " don't stick your neck out," " only speak when you're spoken to," " know your place," "don't work too hard." "the more you do the more will be expected of you," what makes you think you're so special?" "don't be stupid." After years of being bombarded by those limiting messages, it's not hard to understand why so many of us undervalue our abilities and our worthiness.



One of the other effects of all those messages can be to let others create our value. If the highest order of our personal goals is to please and satisfy others - to respond to those messages - we can never place the real value we should on ourselves.



Having a limited view of our personal value can be a good thing - if it makes us strive harder to achieve. And for many it does - many of the top leaders and most successful people use their feelings of "not quite good enough" as a way to motivate themselves to show just what they can do. Unfortunately, for many, this same feeling of "not quite good enough" results in not taking risks, not reaching out for opportunities. The result is that personal value stagnates - and being "not quite good enough" becomes a way of life - a firmly embedded belief.



So how can we increase our personal value - in our work, our family, our relationships? Here are methods, tools and beliefs we all can use to better understand and increase our personal value:



Start with this exercise:

Write down all the successes and challenges you have met and overcome. If you're not used to thinking in terms of your own successes, or if your beliefs have been shaped to where you question your own worthiness or ability this may take some time. Write down as much as you can, and keep coming back to it. This is strictly a personal exercise, and is not the place for humility. Begin to notice what happens when you write down positive successes in your life. A lot of today's challenges and opportunities start to look a lot more doable when compared with what you have already accomplished - and there are so many more accomplishments and successes than you realized! Your energy picks up as you begin to realize just how much value you have created.

Create goals for the important things. It's amazing just how many really important accomplishments and successes are never really identified because people didn't take the time to define define them - in writing. Make goal setting a habit.

Start a Success Diary. Force yourself to write down all the things that went right - that you accomplished on a daily basis. Become positively accountable to yourself. Writing down what you did well becomes something you look forward to doing every day. And the more you do it - the more you want to do it.

Replace perfect with good. Nothing limits a sense of personal value more than having the belief that only perfect is good enough.. That belief creates an impossible barrier to accomplishment. Nothing's perfect - striving to do better is what motivates.

Be realistic, but stretch that realism to set the course for accomplishment. Tell yourself "This is a stretch, but it's what I want to do, and I'm going to go for it!" The only way to add value is to reach beyond where we are right now - and that requires a level of risk. Risk and increasing value go together.

Realize the most common assumption people make that keeps them from realizing their true value is the assumption that many other people share the same skills, abilities, experiences, beliefs, attitudes and personal skills that they do. Nothing could be further from the truth. Creating our own value requires the belief that we are truly unique - we are, you know.

Realize that we all feel fear, we all get nervous, we all are insecure in our ability to overcome problems and create solutions. A saying I read years ago said " Be kind to your fellow man - we all have our private hells to deal with." Knowing that even the most self assured, attractive, apparently successful people share fear as an emotion, and have their own baggage of doubts, can help us overcome our own.

Many of us tend to undervalue our accomplishments and experience and put ourselves in small niches. Realize how valuable and broad your accomplishments really are! Good examples are men and women coming out of the military – great experience – but many see themselves as much more limited than they really are. Realize that behaviors, attitudes and personal skills are transferable - and represent the greatest opportunities for success in any job.

Take an inventory of all the value added actions that exist around what you do. Example - A young manager volunteered to take on a one time project for his employer. He was named Project Manager - in addition to everything else he had to do. He discovered project management skills - that he had in abundance - were scarce. He always assumed that others had what he had - a bad assumption. He ended up taking his skills and putting them to work in a business where project management was a core competency. He prospered.

Realize that fears and doubts and negative issues will not go away - they reappear every day. They are one of the engines of accomplishment. Facing them and dealing with them - and in many cases succeeding - and in others failing, but continuing to persist, adds value.

Start today on your journey of discovery of your personal value. Start with the exercise of writing down all the things you have accomplished, succeeded in and overcome in your life. Be prepared to be amazed at yourself.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

How To Gain Optimism Through Accomplishment

Nothing creates a greater sense of optimism than accomplishment. And optimism is one of the core beliefs and attitudes of successful people. It's estimated that only 30 percent of our population are optimists, but that the majority of successful people are optimists. That estimate says that the better chance of accomplishment and success lies with the optimists.

Ask yourself these questions: When you entered into a commitment with a sense of enthusiasm and conviction, what were your accomplishments? When you entered into a commitment with hesitation, with a sense that it wouldn't work out well, what did you accomplish? Then ask yourself which of these two approaches you follow most often.

If your response was hesitation and the possibility of failure, chances are that you're missing opportunities to succeed - and accomplishment is the only real security any of us have. Read on to find ways to strengthen your ability to seek out and accomplish more in your life - in every part of it.

If your response was enthusiasm and conviction, read on for ways you can share those attitudes and beliefs with the people around you.

Here are nine recommendations:

One -Accomplishment requires putting yourself in your discomfort zone - a place where you're not secure, where you have to learn and challenge yourself. The comfort zone is the danger zone - much more dangerous than taking risk. Staying in the comfort zone keeps people from ever knowing their real abilities and worth.

Two -Accomplishment comes in many forms. It can range from a small triumph to a huge one, but what's important is that the person doing the accomplishing sees it for what it is.

Three - View situations as opportunities first. This is a real challenge for people used to thinking in terms of negative consequences. But if your first thoughts are negative, the chances of passing on real opportunity are very high. Sometimes the best thing to do with those opportunities you grabbed is to drop them - but if you don't act in the now to get them, you don't have a choice - they're gone.

Four - Accomplishment likes action - action now. Accomplishment likes ownership - standing up and taking responsibility for a situation.

Five - Be able to see your accomplishments when they happen. This might seem like a no - brainer - it isn't. For many people. their accomplishments are taken for granted - by them. They don't see their unique abilities and strengths as anything special, and so what could have been a positive reinforcement of their own personal worth and ability, goes unnoticed - by them and by others.

Six - Create goals in order to define accomplishment. State them positively - in terms of gain. Create your own personal goal culture and communicate your goals to others.

Seven - Realize that fear and doubt are as normal as breathing - they won't go away - they will be with you everyday. Enlist fear and doubt as allies. The ability to wake up every morning, deal with fear of failure, and move forward is a quality of successful people. For more on this, read Steven Pressfield's excellent book, The War Of Art.

Eight - Understand everyone else, regardless how self assured they appear, has the same doubts and concerns that you have. Know that what you are going through on the path to accomplishment is shared by others. Know you're not alone in these emotions, but are part of what successful people experience every day.

Nine - See yourself as worthy of the rewards of your efforts. See your accomplishments for what they are - an affirmation of your ability to achieve. Make those subconscious two beliefs that almost all of us share - that we are not worthy; that we are not able - shrink to nothing through personal action and accomplishment

Start today - grab ahold of some situation, project, challenge, and make it your own. Then make it happen. The possibilities are endless. But the one guaranteed outcome will be a more positive feeling about yourself earned through achievement- and isn't that a huge part of optimism?

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

How Leaders Increase Their Personal Energy

I recently posted a blog titled " How Leaders Create The Energy Essential To Success." It dealt with ways leaders create energy in their organizations through their beliefs and behaviors.

This blog deals with how leaders sustain and increase their personal energy.

In our discussions, leaders divided energy into two dimensions - external and internal. The external dimension is what's seen - what's perceived by others through behavior. Internal energy is what occurs as a result of internal attitudes, values and beliefs - elements like optimism, curiosity, sense of self, opportunities. Many highly successful, highly energetic people don't appear energetic in the external, Energizer Bunny, kind of way. But what they possess is the kind of internal energy that keeps them moving and asking and discovering and recharging their batteries through action.

Most leaders we talked to agreed that part of high energy, both internal and external, is probably genetic - some people's motors just run faster. But having said that, they all said the biggest elements of energy creation and renewal are passion, commitment, focus and accomplishment.

Many of the leaders we talked to used exercising as an example of how the two dimensions of energy work with - or against - each other. They described times they forced themselves to exercise even though they were angry, or frustrated, or disappointed. The effect of forcing themselves to meet their commitment to themselves lifted them up, and renewed their energy. They were proud that they fought through the negative emotions to do what they had committed to do. And even though their level of performance may have initially suffered because of the negative emotions, the action of keeping a commitment energized them - internally and externally. As one leader joked about exercise " It feels so good when I'm finished."

Leaders increase personal energy by pressing on, even when obstacles and emotions would make it easy to stop, pull back, defer. Action creates energy.

Leaders create and renew energy through accomplishment. The saying " Nothing succeeds like success" is so true - at all levels. And it's not just personal accomplishment that creates energy - it's accomplishment at the organizational, individual, workgroup and family level. Leaders look for accomplishment as a means of sustaining and growing their energy, as well as the energy of others.

Leaders take inspiration from the pleasure and achievement of others. They know there's plenty for everybody.


Leaders say breaking out - doing something they've never done before, can be terrifying, exhilarating, but always energizing. It doesn't have to be climbing Everest - it can be much more down to earth. The important thing is that it's new - new sports, new places, new physical challenges, new mental challenges. As one former teacher put it - "the only difference between a rut and a grave is a rut's longer." Ruts don't create energy - they pull it down at all levels.


Leaders like to travel to new places that test their assumptions. Going to a place where they're not in a position of leadership, where the language is different, the food is different, the culture is different, and observing and embracing it without comparison, is a great way to feel more alive - more energetic.

Leaders create effective, productive routines for the day to day things they need to do. They know weaving the important things into day to day routines is liberating. The fewer exceptional efforts required to complete the day - to - days, the more energy available for the creative, new, challenging, accomplishment - directed things.

Leaders find sources of inspiration - and are energized by them. Challenges in their enterprises, biographies of people that have overcome challenges, self help and motivation books, music, poetry, speeches, seminars, relationships with successful people, all add energy.

Leaders find a way to give and give back. They give their talent, their energy, their passion, their experience to others, and are energized by the experience. Thry give without calculating or expecting a return. And they're richer for it - renewed energy is just one of the rewards.

Leaders treasure small victories - they know they lead to big victories. Small victories, well celebrated, have an enormous impact on energy. And there are so many more of them than just waiting for the few big victories. It goes without saying that the big victories really get celebrated.

Finally, leaders cultivate optimism - in themselves and in others. They start each day with the belief that soemthing special is gonna happen - if they make it happen. And leaders use that optimism to think the best of others - they know negative expectations of others results in low energy .

Leaders we talked to offered many more ways they sustain and develop their personal energy. No single person does all of them. But they all agreed action is the basis for energy. While on the surface it might appear that action takes energy away, in reality it's the exact opposite. Effective action adds energy.

Your personal energy is a critical part of your success. Without a high level of both internal and external energy success is hard to find. Use the methods described in this article to help you create and sustain your own high level of energy. Act - today.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Personal Energy - Where It Comes From

I just finished listening to Ray Stevens sing "Everything Is Beautiful In It's Own way." A song from the 70's. Done in an upbeat, gospel style. It's full of positive messages; the music is energetic; the lyrics are filled with hope; it takes me to great places I've been; and it just pumps me up for the day I'm in. What a gift!

That's one of the places our positive energy comes from - the kind of messages music provides that we can personalize and make our very own.

I don't know what your favorites are - but I'd bet you have the same reaction to your favorites that I have when I hear mine.

I have "Everything Is Beautiful In It's Own Way" on my computer, but I like being surprised by hearing it on the radio - rather than making it into background music that I hear so often that it just blends into everything else. I want it to stay special - I want it to lift me up - I want it to send a chill down my spine - I want it to make my day special. And so I treasure it, and when it comes my way, I stop, and I sing along with it, and I feel so energized.

And when I've done that, I have that "can't touch me " feeling for the day I'm in.

I've been working on a blog about leaders and how they gain personal energy. It isn't done yet. But music is one of the elements of how leaders gain personal energy.

This song means so much to me, I just had to share it.

Have a great "can't touch me" day.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602=795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

How Leaders Create The Energy Essential To Success

Leaders know high energy individuals, workgroups and organizations create success. How to create and sustain that high energy is the key challenge leaders face every day.


The following behaviors and beliefs are keys that leaders we have worked with have found work to achieve consistent high energy with their people.


Leaders start with the belief that commitment unleashes energy and that compliance reduces energy. To the extent that their people feel committed to the goals of the organization, they will work harder, produce more and accomplish more than any group of people waiting to be told what to do. Compliance keeps people waiting for direction - it keeps them asking " What do you want me to do now?"


Leaders share knowledge and information, they don't hoard it. They want their people to know how things are going. They believe 90% of their people can handle the truth, but that 100% of their people are turned off by half truths and secrecy. Leaders practice the exact opposite of the "if knowledge is power, than the sharing of knowledge is a reduction in power" behavior of high control managers.


Leaders work with their people to create goals that align with the organization's goals. Then they keep the goals as simple as possible and work to have their people align their personal goals with the goals of the organization. And they fight to keep the goal process as simple and free of bureaucratic stuff as possible. They want goals to create energy, and not have process destroy it.


When leaders think they've communicated enough - they know they need to communicate more. Effective communication creates energy.


Leaders protect the time of their people. There are always distractions that can take the energy out of any endeavor. Leaders keep their people protected from the low value, time and energy eating things that invariably show up. Just as individuals need to keep their eye on the few important things, so must leaders keep their eye on the same few important things,


Leaders define what having "your eye on the ball " means. The purpose of goals - solid, real goals focused on contribution and accomplishment - keep the main things the main things - and make it easier for everyone to be energized and focused.


Leaders know action creates energy - lack of action sucks the energy out of any enterprise. Ever been in a restaurant when it's not busy? Bad time to be there - you might expect the best service and the best food, but it rarely works out that way. Come back when the place is really busy - and see a high level of service and energy and focus. Focused busy has a power all its own.


Leaders have high expectations of all their people - and they hold them to their expectations. Nothing is more demoralizing and sapping of energy than to have a manager indicate by words or actions that not much is expected. And guess what? When that belief is communicated - not much is accomplished. Nobody ever did anyone a favor by telling them to "take it easy."


Leaders demand that their people know what their contribution to the enterprise is and how it is measured, and how they are doing. And not just at the annual performance review. Leaders hold performance reviews all the time.


Leaders know the more open and communicative their behavior, the more authority, power and energy they and their people have. High control managers, on the other hand, fail to see that, and hold as much power as possible to themselves, and in doing that, they actually cede power to others, and don't tap the potential energy of their people.


Leaders protect the energy of their people from the negative 5 percent that show up - in even the best organizations. They protect them by taking swift action to either remediate the negative behavior, or, failing that, by getting rid of the negative 5 percenters. And not by simply palming them off on the next manager or leader.


Leaders incorporate these beliefs and behaviors into their every day work and play. They know that anything that requires constant special attention to keep going will fail. Only imbedded behaviors and beliefs have lasting value.



Review the behaviors and beliefs that leaders have shared in this blog, and see where you can add to your impact and create more energy with your people - and the people around you. Do it through action - today.

Written by Andy Cox, President

4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Phoenix: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved