UNLV William F. Harrah
College of Hotel Administration
International Advisory Board

Are You the Right Fit?

Scott Ballantyne - Hewlett Packard
IÕve always tried to get to a value set of the individual, because a real comfortable fit within an organization, there has to be a technical expertise which many people can cover, but how do you get to understand a person. So I use and may team has used situational dialog. What happens if you find yourself in this environment? How would you think about solving this problem? Tell me about things that happened in your life that made you change decisions or change your plans. Those get to peopleÕs inner most thinking. And get to know the people. Ask them fun questions. I always ask people what book are you reading. I think it tells a lot about people. What was the last movie you saw? And I dig deep in the resume. If they say theyÕre a great hiking enthusiast, whatÕs the last ten hikes you went on? What was the most engaging? Why was it the most engaging? Then you really get people to come out of wearing a suit and a tie sitting in a dark room. You get to understand what theyÕre really like. And to be honest, itÕs a very personal thing.

Marvin Franklin - Commercial Growth Partners
ItÕs always been about preparedness. If I have a certain candidate that I am interviewing or  considering for my organization or other organizations, I look at their level of preparedness. How inquisitive they are. How studied they are in terms of the company theyÕre interviewing for. How much they know about the people, about the departments, how they interrelate. Often times we find candidates will come in and they are very well prepared, theyÕre very well researched. And generally, they make the decision as to whether or not our culture is right for them because theyÕve studied it and they can tell you very well whether or not theyÕll even fit. We tend to like those kind of candidates. The candidates that really come in prepared are the ones that tend to fit  most any culture.

Debi Benedetti - Beyond the Possible
Really it starts with core values. Does the individual have the same core values as the organization whether it be trust, respect, integrity? Core values are really important. Clarity is really important. Authenticity. So where it might be a cultural issue or it might be an upbringing issue, eye contact is critically important. People need to be able to feel you and see you. So being aligned yourself and coming to the interview to really have a conversation is I think the most important. From the standpoint of hiring, I look for that all the time. Do they know what they want? They may not know specifically what they want but they have a plan.