Was just reading great posts on Hiring the Happy and How to Screen for Happy  - I would agree that hiring people who are happy with their lives and themselves is a key to building a good work culture and community.    

Happy doesn't mean always the life of the party - but rather looking on the bright side of things - dealing with the situation on hand, learning from it, and moving forward with a positive outlook.  You want to look for people who "speak well of former employers, take personal responsibility for past career mishaps, and who will be okay whether or not they get offered your job".   No whining or complaining allowed!

A big trait to hire for that often goes along with happiness is a can-do attitude.  You want to find people who when given a task or a project, say 'yes, I can do that, and any parts that I don't know how to do right now, I will figure out'.  Having employees who take the ball and run with it, rather than needing to be hand-led through every step, makes life so much easier for the manager, and also just gets more done!  To find for can-do attitude, look for work projects or outside hobbies where they have taken initiative, ask applicants to complete screening tasks before hand, and get them doing real work during their interview so you can see how they react when on their toes.  A good retail sales person can be helpful and work the floor in any store, even if they don't know the product line (although you also want to find someone who has a special interest in your product line and your company's line of business.)

Although remember that being happy and can-do doesn't mean always in agreement - you want to find hires that who will get along well with their boss and co-workers, but who will fill any voids in the organization's skill sets, values, or priorities, which sometimes leads to differences of opinion on what's important.  A good leader can recognize where their weaknesses are (both personal and within their team), and hire people to step into those gaps, in order to fulfill on the organization's full mission.

When hiring staff, can a resume and a cover letter really tell you how a person will be able to do the job?  

No, the resume and cover letter may give you as the hiring manager a starting point, but I feel like it's best to try to get candidates to self-select based on their interest in your company and the specific position, and then to engage them in as much of a real-job experience as you can so that you can see how they perform, and they can also see how the company culture is and what would be expected of them.  Remember that a job interview goes both ways - you're trying to find the best person for the job, and the applicant is trying to find the best job for their talents and interests.

So how do you get applicants to self-select?  One way is to put some specific questions in the job description that the applicants have to answer in addition to just sending in their resume and cover letter.  (Oh, and obviously tailoring their cover letter to your company and the position is another way that they self-select.)  You can also do a first-round set of questions that you send to everyone who applies (see the email below sent automatically to the over 700 resumes we received for filling my administrative director position at Innovations Academy in 2009).  Iridescent Learning also has a screening task for all of their positions, which is actually much more involved than just answering a few questions.  Check out their blog post on why & how they screen.   (On a slightly unrelated note, their stage #4 is very important to realize as your organization grows & scales - no one is perfect, we're all just people.)

After the initial self-selection, you'll have narrowed the field down, but you still want to meet applicants in person.  If you still have quite a few interesting people, you may want to do a phone interview first, especially if a portion of their job consists of speaking on the phone (sales, customer service, etc).  For the in-person interview, try to figure out a way to incorporate them into a few real company tasks that would be part of their job description.  If someone is a teacher, have them teach a lesson.  If someone is a retail sales associate, have them work the floor.  If someone is a marketer, have them create a PR piece.  When I was hiring my replacement at Innovations Academy, I had the top applicants come in to shadow me for an hour and also tour the school and sit in on a classroom (see the email below that I sent to help the applicants understand our hiring process).

Some may argue that creating a high barrier to entry will discourage qualified applicants, but I think that anyone who is interested enough in your company and the specific position that you're hiring for won't mind jumping through a few hoops and in fact will probably enjoy it because they're (in theory) doing work that they're excited about for a company that they want to spend time with.  And that's what you want - remember you're not just interviewing to find someone who can do the job...  You're interviewing to find someone who will create immense value for your company and who will have fun doing it!  :-)


EXAMPLES:

Email sent to the over 700 applicants for one position...

Thank you for responding to our Innovations Academy office/admin coordinator position Craigslist ad!  We have had a ton of responses - too many to really read through all of the resumes and cover letters!  So we're going to let you self-select if you are really truly interested in the position.  Here is the link to our ad if you need to remind yourself of what job you applied for.  http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/edu/951882513.html

At the end of this email, you will find some questions about you, the position, and your interest in the position.  Please answer the questions thoroughly, using the style of writing, grammar, and punctuation that you would use on the job.  Send the questions with your answers back to us by email, but change the subject line to say "YES, I am very interested in working at Innovations!"

Thank you!
-Teresa :-)
The Current Admin Director
Innovations Academy
www.innovationsacademy.org

A few basic tips on your job search...
-Write something in the body of your email which shows that you actually read more than the title of the job posting.  Hiring managers don't want to have to open your cover letter or resume.
-Do a little bit of research - say something about the company that interests you!  Most companies want to hire someone who really wants to work at that specific company, not someone who just needs a job.
-If the job posting has specific requirements in the ad, make sure that you address all of the requirements in your email, cover letter, or resume.  Don't leave the hiring manager wondering if you can do the job.
-Be sure that your resume and cover letter are in .doc or .pdf format - remember that not all computers can open .wps and .docx files!


Email Interview Questions:  (There are no right or wrong answers - only answers that are true to you!)
1) What are some of the things that you enjoy about yourself?  What hobbies/interests do you have?

2) Why are you interested in working at Innovations Academy?

3) Please describe your work/volunteer/life experiences with children ages 5-13 and parents.  What do you like about these ages?  What don't you like about these ages?

4) Please describe your work/volunteer/life experiences with managing an office.  What is your style of organization?  What system(s) do you use to keep track of what needs to be done?

5) We also have an office assistant who would be under your direction.  Please describe your work/volunteer/life experience with supervising people.  What do you like about managing people?  What don't you like about managing people?

6) You realize on Friday around noon that you are not going to be able to finish your workload to an important deadline on Monday morning.  What would you do?

7) Which part of the job description do you feel least confident about being able to do or handle?

8) As the school receptionist and the person who handles new applications, you will often have to "sell" the school.  What are some of the selling points for our school?  How do you feel personally about these aspects of our school?

9) How do you deal with change?  Do you need to have your schedule laid out weeks in advance?  Or do you like having new tasks come up at the last minute?

10) How will Innovations Academy benefit from hiring you as our new administrative coordinator?

Thank you for responding to these questions!  I hope that they brought some insight into yourself and what you want out of a job.  :-)


Email to the top 20 or so applicants who made it to the real-job experience stage of the interviewing process...

We have received over 700 resumes from our Craigslist ad, and over 250 responses to the questions.  We have narrowed it down to the top 20 or so applicants, and you have made the cut!   :-)  (I feel like we're in American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance!)

We would like to invite you to be part of our interview process described below.  I'm hoping that this process will be fun and enlightening for you, so that this can be a productive use of your time even if we don't end up offering you a job with our school.  We are big on making sure that the people we hire want to work for us as much as we want them - so if at any point during this process, anything rubs you the wrong way or you start feeling like this might not be right for you, please self-select yourself out.  We don't want someone in this position who is taking the job because they need the money - we want someone who is passionate about our school, our kids, and their job.  :-)

Before I tell you about the interview process, let me tell you some more about the job so you know what you would be getting yourself into... (Some of these things may change as we are in the middle of re-delegating tasks to our whole administrative staff, but you should be prepared to do all of the following.)
-FIRST PERSON AT SCHOOL:  Open up school before 7:30am, and deal with any "fires" that may come up before the directors arrive.
-ATTENDANCE: Make sure that teachers complete attendance, enter it into Zangle (District software), run reports, etc.
-ENROLLMENT: Ensure that all enrolled students have completed all forms, maintain enrollment database, maintain cumulative folders, etc.
-APPLICATIONS: Keep track of applications/waitlisted students, give tours, answer questions, etc.
-RECEPTIONIST: Answer the phone, answer emails, deal with walk-ins, and answer or direct all inquiries.
-SUPPLY CLERK: Order office supplies, school supplies, snacks, etc.
-NURSE: Put on band-aids, give out ice packs, call parents, etc  -- also maintain immunization and health records for all students
-FIRE FIGHTER/COORDINATOR: Help with anything and everything that comes up around school, including talking with students, working with the Kroc Center, etc.

Ok, on to the interview process...  We've found that doing the regular interview (interviewer and interviewee just talking with each other) is not often the best way to figure who is going to really be able to handle the job, so we are going to do a real-life, throw-you-into-the-pit interview process.  :-)

We're asking you to come in for a two hour block sometime the week of Dec 15th-19th.  During this interview block, you will spend about an hour with our kids in the classroom and about an hour with me.  We'll talk, I'll give you some actual tasks to do, you'll see what happens in our classrooms, etc.  We can't offer any financial compensation for this time, only children's smiles and maybe a band-aid and a granola bar!

Please let me know your top 3 choices from the following days and times (I'm going out of town for this weekend, so I probably will not get back to about when to come for sure until Sunday night or Monday morning):

Wednesday 8-10am, 10-12noon, 12-2pm
Thursday 8-10am, 10-12noon, 12-2pm
Friday 8-10am, 10-12noon, 12-2pm

Also please respond with your cell phone number (or the best number to reach you) so if I have to reschedule your appointment for some reason, I can get a hold of you.

Thank you so much!  
-Teresa :-)
The Current Admin Coordinator
Innovations Academy

I am starting to look for a position based in the Bay Area where I can make a difference in the education of children, preferably ages 0-6, in a non-traditional setting (non-profit, social enterprise, foundation, etc) for a larger population (the San Francisco region, California, or even nationally).  I want to use research-based methods and possibly be involved in testing and collecting data on new instructional ideas, but my skills and interests are best suited for the actual organizational management & implementation side of the equation, rather than the writing and analyzing numbers side.  I see the need both for cognitive development (early language learning, STEAM, etc) as well as for non-cognitive development (empathy, executive functioning skills, creativity, etc).

I thrive when I can do both strategy and operations, both big picture planning and day-to-day running (part of the reason why I've owned several businesses).  I like a mix of customer service and higher level coordinating - organizing all the moving parts behind the scenes and also some in-person interaction - making people (especially kids!) smile.  I need a variety of tasks and responsibilities, multiple projects moving forward at the same time.  I want the ability to make decisions quickly and start new initiatives without bureaucracy or committee meetings.  I enjoy traveling, both region-wide and nation-wide, and would be happy with a position that included some driving to different sites, flying for conferences, etc.

I love working with other passionate, positive, intelligent people in a collaborative environment that values productivity and allows employees to work when & where is best for them (although of course, teachers need to be with the students for classes, brick&mortar businesses need to be staffed during their open hours, and events need people to run them). I take personal responsibility and will do what it takes to get the job done, and I expect my co-workers to do the same, but I also want work-life balance and I encourage switching shifts or trading tasks so that everyone can provide value to the company, gain personal value from their employment, and still enjoy their family, hobbies, and free time.  http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130730145657-5799319-unlimited-vacation-days-treat-employees-like-adults


Possible Job Titles:  Educational Coordinator,  Director of Education, Administrative Director, Program Director, Director of Programming, Project Coordinator,  Executive Director, Chief Program Officer, Regional Education Leader


** While seeking a full-time position, I am still available for event coordination, short-term projects, speaking engagements, and consulting gigs - as well as babysitting / nannying, tutoring / teaching, and coaching.  :-)

The more 'successful' people I meet and the more my friends do amazingly awesome stuff, the more I am also reminded that we are all just people. We're not perfect, we all have our own inner struggles. We're never 100% productive or effective. And we all need close friends who have fun with us and engage us in interesting conversations. And who support us in working toward our dreams and celebrate with us when we reach our goals. And who are also there to help dust us off when we fall, and hold us when we're stressed, and who stay with us as we grow and learn, and as we change priorities and become our future selves.  :-)

Getting other people to support you is critical to growing bigger and making a bigger impact.  You can't do it all yourself.  And all the better if the people are helping because they are passionate about the vision, rather than just doing a job.  "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." -  Antoine de Saint Exupéry  :-)