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Acknowledgements xii <p>Introduction: Leaders Needed ix</p> <p><b>Chapter 1 Value Beyond the Balance Sheet: The Right People 1</b></p> <p>Are Your People Really Your Competitive Advantage? 1</p> <p>The Traditional Interview: Rolling the Dice 2</p> <p>The Hiring Manager 4</p> <p>The Human Resources Professional 5</p> <p>Behavioral Interviewing: Examining the Past to Predict the Future 6</p> <p>Not a Cookie-Cutter Approach 7</p> <p>Case Study Profiles That Lead the Way 8</p> <p>A Vision of Organizational Clarity 16</p> <p><b>Chapter 2 Making the Business Case for Behavioral Interviewing 19</b></p> <p>Competing for the Best 19</p> <p>Why Hiring Decisions Fail 20</p> <p>The Job Description 21</p> <p>The Résumé 23</p> <p>Technical Credentials 24</p> <p>Experience 24</p> <p>Hypothetical Situations and Opinions 25</p> <p>Behavioral Information 26</p> <p>Comparing Types of Information 27</p> <p>The Interviewing Skills of the Candidate 28</p> <p>The Time It Takes for a Decision 29</p> <p>Reference Checks 30</p> <p>Structured and Unstructured Interviews 31</p> <p>The Odds and the Options 32</p> <p>Determining the Economic Value-Added 33</p> <p>Getting Buy-In From the Organization 38</p> <p>Case Studies: Two Approaches to Behavioral Interviewing 39</p> <p>Summary 46</p> <p><b>Chapter 3 The Organization, the Job, and the Candidate: The Right Fit 47</b></p> <p>Understanding What to Look For 47</p> <p>Employees Success and Failure 48</p> <p>The Importance of Defining Fit 49</p> <p>Organizational Values 50</p> <p>Organizational Culture 55</p> <p>Organizational Vision 55</p> <p>Corporate Mission, Strategy, and Objectives 56</p> <p>Linking Values to Behaviors 56</p> <p>The What and How of a Job 58</p> <p>Technical Knock-Out Factors 60</p> <p>Can-Do and Will-Do Factors 60</p> <p>Behavioral Competencies 61</p> <p>Transferability: The Hierarchy of Behaviors 63</p> <p>Developing Behavioral Competencies in Your Unique Organization 65</p> <p>A Road Map for Success 66</p> <p>Working With Values: Case Study Examples 67</p> <p>Summary 73</p> <p><b>Chapter 4 Developing Behavioral Profiles that Benchmark Top Performance 75</b></p> <p>Identifying, Examining, and Describing Top Performance 75</p> <p>Critical Incidents 77</p> <p>A Critical Incident: An Example 78</p> <p>Breaking Down the Incident 78</p> <p>The Right Critical Incident and Behaviors 79</p> <p>Critical Incidents and Behavioral Interviewing 80</p> <p>Focus Groups 81</p> <p>Identifying Must-Have and Preferred Behavioral Competencies 86</p> <p>Writing the Behavioral Profile 88</p> <p>Sample Behavioral Profile 91</p> <p>Case Study Profiles 96</p> <p>Summary 105</p> <p><b>Chapter 5 Writing Behavioral Questions that Elicit High-Yield Information 107</b></p> <p>Behavioral Questions 107</p> <p>Key Words 111</p> <p>Sample Behavioral Questions 112</p> <p>The Interview Guide 115</p> <p>Summary 117</p> <p><b>Chapter 6 Interviewing to Select and Sell the Best 119</b></p> <p>Laying the Groundwork 119</p> <p>How Much Structure? 120</p> <p>Time Allocation 122</p> <p>How Many Interviews? 123</p> <p>Note Taking: Recording Behavioral Information 124</p> <p>Preparing for the Interview 126</p> <p>Opening the Interview 127</p> <p>The Agenda-Setting Statement 128</p> <p>Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions 131</p> <p>Listening 132</p> <p>Probing 134</p> <p>Getting Behavioral Answers 136</p> <p>Selling Your Organization 139</p> <p>Closing the Interview 141</p> <p>Behavioral Reference Checks 142</p> <p>Post-Interview Debriefings 144</p> <p>Ensuring the Fit of Your Selection 145</p> <p>Training Hiring Managers to do</p> <p>Behavioral Interviewing 146</p> <p>Case Study Profiles 149</p> <p>Summary 159</p> <p><b>Chapter 7 Doing the Numbers: The Right Decision 161</b></p> <p>Suspending Judgement and Developing a Common Language of Assessment 161</p> <p>The Process 163</p> <p>Determining Evidence of Behaviors 163</p> <p>Scoring Responses: Using the Anchored Rating Scale 165</p> <p>Anchored Rating System 166</p> <p>Case Study Profiles 168</p> <p>Sample Response Rating 169</p> <p>Common Rating and Profile Assessment Errors 173</p> <p>The Decision 174</p> <p>Making the Offer 175</p> <p><b>Chapter 8 Aligning Organizational Values, Strategy and People: A Common Language of Success 179</b></p> <p>The Hub of the Wheel 179</p> <p>Michelin North America 181</p> <p>HMV North America 183</p> <p>Calgary Police Service 187</p> <p>Abbott Labs 188</p> <p>Thomas Cook 190</p> <p>Starbucks 191</p> <p>Sprint Canada 192</p> <p>A Final Thought: Championing a Behavioral Approach 193</p> <p><b>Afterword Hiring in a Dot-Com Start-Up: The Tug of War Between Growth and Time 195</b></p> <p>Does Hiring Right Work When You're Hiring Fast? 195</p> <p>An All-Out Hiring Blitz 196</p> <p>First Steps: Easing in a Behavioral Approach 198</p> <p>Seizing the Opportunity to Spread the Word 198</p> <p>Adaptions to the Behavioral Interviewing Workshop 200</p> <p>Benefits to the Organization: Adapting to Change, Choosing the Right Competencies and Building a Global Culture 201</p> <p>How Hiring Managers and Senior Executives Have Embraced the Process 204</p> <p>Conclusion: A Step-by-Step Approach 206</p> <p>Index 209</p>

<b>Dr. David S. Cohen</b> is a Principal in the Strategic Action Group, a consulting firm specializing in human resources development. His work with corporations is in several primary areas: management and leadership development; behavioral-based recruitment, selection, and performance management; helping corporations to articulate their values and develop a strategic vision; creating high-performance, results-focused teams.<br />Dr. Cohen's background spans both corporate consulting and education. He has consulted with a diverse group of industries in Canada., the United Kingdom, and the United States, specializing in the design and delivery of management development programs and human resources processes that are integrated with the business plan, vision, and values of individual clients.<br />Dr. Cohen is a sought-after speaker on human resource issues that has presented frequently for groups such as Linkage, the Institute for International Research, Insight, IQPC, the Canadian Management Centre (of American Management Association International), and the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario Annual Conference. He is also called upon as a keynote speaker at a variety of corporate programs.<br />Dr. Cohen holds a doctorate in Education from Boston University and is a member of the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario (HRPAO).

<b>A PRACTICAL STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TO HIRING THE RIGHT PERSON</b> <p>Every hiring manager knows that the traditional hiring and interviewing process is a poor tool for predicting organizational fit and future on-the-job success. Behavioral interviewing can improve your chances of picking the right candidate two to five times over traditional processes. It focuses on how the candidate works rather than on skills, qualifications, and impressions.</p> <p><i>The Talent Edge</i> shows how you can develop a concrete understanding of what your own top performers do differently than the majority of their peers, and how to translate that knowledge into a better hiring system. While using case studies from organizations that have successfully transformed their hiring practices, the book articulates the business case for a Behavioral Interviewing system, and provides a roadmap for implementing it.</p> <p>Comprehensive coverage includes: how to write job profiles and translate them into questions and answers that can be used in the interview; how to prepare for the interview, ask questions, and probe for the right information. The book also offers advice on how behaviors that are defined and proven to be useful in the hiring process can be incorporated into performance management, career development, and succession planning.</p>

"Talent management— hiring, developing, and retaining top performers— is essential for any company competing for rare knowledge workers. Cohen's <i>The Talent Edge</i> explains in very clear language how to begin establishing a truly world-class performance management system by identifying which candidates are the most capable of top performance and are the best fit for your organization." <br /> — <i>Stephen McIntosh, Program Manager, Cicso Systems, Inc.</i> <p>"I cannot afford to hire an employee that does not fit in or is less than fully productive. David Cohen has provided us in <i>The Talent Edge</i> a 'how to' which will ensure a successful hiring process. A must-read in today's competitive talent hunt."<br /> — <i>Robin Wohnsigl, President, Air Canada Technical Services</i></p> <p>"Both impressive and comprehensive, <i>The Talent Edge</i> shows why David Cohen is a leading authority on behavioral interviewing. This is a book no one involved in the hiring process should be without. Outstanding in both its scope and practical application."<br /> — <i>Wendy Parkes, Senior Manager, Career Development, Emfisys Division, Bank of Montreal</i></p> <p>"I shudder to think how much time, energy, and money is wasted by managers who still go by a 'gut instinct' when hiring people! I'm recommending <i>The Talent Edge</i> to all my clients. It's a solid, meat-and-potatoes book— straightforward, thorough, practical, and useful."<br /> — <i>BJ Gallagher Hateley, coauthor of</i> A Peacock in the Land of Penguins <i>and</i> What Would Buddha Do at Work?</p> <p>"In <i>The Talent Edge</i>, David Cohen demystifies behavioral interviewing, which is arguably the most popular selection screening tol used in North America. It is an engaging primer for the manager confused by his or her poor choices in hiring."<br /> — <i>Richard E. Boyatzis, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Organizational Behavior, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University</i></p> <p>"<i>The Talent Edge</i> is a sharp, thorough, and practical guide for line managers and human resources professionals eager to ensure they're getting the best and the right talent for their organizations. Cohen's approach is well grounded in research but is rich with real-world examples and immediately applicable tools for those engaged in the war for talent."<br /> — <i>Lori Byran, Consultant, and Former Leadership Development Manager for Hallmark Cards, Inc.</i></p>

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