Mel Kleiman

Mel Kleiman, CSP, is an internationally-known authority on recruiting, selecting, and hiring hourly employees. He has been the president of Humetrics since 1976 and has over 30 years of practical experience, research, consulting and professional speaking work to his credit. Contact him at mkleiman@humetrics.com.

Articles by Mel Kleiman

HR Insights

Great Things Result When You Refuse to Accept Excuses

by on Jun 17, 2013, 9:12 AM  |  No comments yet
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Excuses can seem like perfectly plausible reasons for not doing something you said you’d do, but over time, if no one calls you on them, they can be habit-forming.

And accepting excuses from employees is a surefire way to encourage repetition of the behavior as well as to demoralize staffers who do meet their commitments.

Do you think it matters to a customer that you have “a good excuse” for the rude behavior of the customer service rep? Does it make it okay with your client that you have “a good excuse” for missing the delivery date? Read more…

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Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring Wisdom: How Performance Reviews Help With Structured Interviews

by on Jun 10, 2013, 9:12 AM  |  No comments yet
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If you have a performance review form, you have a structured interview form

And, if you have a GREAT performance review form, you also have a GREAT structured interview form because:

  1. The purpose of the performance review form is to gain a shared understanding of how well the employee is meeting agreed to goals and objectives as well as company standards. (It’s also an opportunity to explore the person’s strengths, challenges, and interests as well as set new goals.) Read more…
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Talent Management

Hiring Wisdom: Feedback on “Ways to Guarantee Your Best People Quit”

by on Jun 3, 2013, 9:12 AM  |  No comments yet
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We received the following comments from a reader in response to my monthly Hiring Hint entitled Top 10 Ways to Guarantee Your Best People Will Quit.

…Management can, and will, ignore this list, and all of the additional items people have added in response. The punchline to the old joke is true at every level – you don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the other guy.

In this instance, I don’t have to do a better job at retaining employees than my competition, I just can’t be any worse at it. Since my competition all does it really, really poorly, then really, really poorly will be good enough for me as well. Read more…

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Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring Wisdom: It All Starts Out With Who You Decide to Hire

by on May 28, 2013, 9:12 AM  |  1 comment
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I just came back from a conference where I listened to 10 different sessions on training, motivating, and managing frontline, hourly employees. I saw some great speakers and got some great ideas and advice.

The key take-aways from every one of the presentations, including mine, were:

  1. It all starts with who you hire. (As Red Auerbach, the winningest coach in the NBA said, “If you hire the wrong person, all the fancy management techniques in the world won’t bail you out.” Read more…
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Recruiting and Staffing, Talent Management

Hiring Wisdom: 10 Steps to Hiring and Retaining a Great Team

by on May 20, 2013, 8:10 AM  |  No comments yet
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  1. Take and stay in control of your team.
  2. Share your desire, vision and purpose with your team to move them in the right direction.
  3. Let only positive people on your team.
  4. Your attitude is contagious, so keep it positive.
  5. Don’t waste your time with people who don’t want to be on the team. Read more…
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Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring Wisdom: Yes, Applicants Tell You What They Want You to Hear

by on May 13, 2013, 8:05 AM  |  2 Comments
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This is not really news, but was triggered by an email I got from a testing company.

Here is their tag line: “Applicants tell you what they want you to hear. Assessments tell you the rest.”

Are we now supposed to assume applicants don’t tell us only what they want us to know when they take our tests? When did testing become infallible? Read more…

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Classic TLNT

The Six Steps For Dealing With an Angry Employee

by on May 10, 2013, 9:08 AM  |  No comments yet
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Editor’s Note: Sometimes, readers ask about past TLNT articles they may have missed. That’s why on Fridays we republish a Classic TLNT post some of you have asked about.

Occasionally, into each life, a little rain must fall.

In this case, the “rain” is an unhappy employee; this isn’t an “if,” it’s a “when” because, when you deal with employees, eventually someone will feel unheard, uncared for, or mistreated.

Should this unhappy employee ruin your day? Quite the contrary. If this person takes the time, energy, and effort to speak up and air their grievances – you owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Read more…

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Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring Wisdom: All Answers Are Good Answers – If You Ask Hard Questions

by on May 6, 2013, 8:10 AM  |  No comments yet
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What answer would you prefer to hear when you ask these interview questions:

  • “Do you have any problem working weekends?”
  • “Do you currently use illegal drugs?”
  • “If a former employer called and offered you your job back, would you go?”

While you may prefer “no” answers to each of the above, a “yes” would be just as informative to your final hiring decision. That’s why, as long as they are truthful, all answers are good answers. Read more…

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Recruiting and Staffing

10 Top Tips, Tools & Techniques to Attract & Recruit Top Talent

by on May 2, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  2 Comments
MelBook
  1. What is your UEP (Unique Employment Proposition)? What do you offer that your competitors don’t? Make a list of the top 10 reasons a STAR employee should come to work for you. The easiest way to come up with a list of why STAR employees is to ask your best employees why they came to work for you; what makes them stay; and what they like most about their jobs and the company.
  2. Ask everyone who gives you an employee referral one question: Is this a referral or a recommendation? This will tell you if the person who gave you the referral actually knows the person and is willing to put their own name and reputation on the line. (This question is worth asking when you get a referral for a vendor you think you may want to work with, too.) Read more…
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Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring Wisdom: Asking For Some Honest Interview Answers

by on Apr 29, 2013, 8:10 AM  |  No comments yet
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According to the most recent report card on American Youth issued by The Josephson Institute of Ethics, the Institute found the number of students who said they had cheated on an exam in the past year dropped from 59 percent in 2010 to 51 percent in 2012.

The number of students who said they had lied to a teacher about something significant in the past year fell from 61 percent in 2010 to 55 percent in 2012. And, in 2012, only 20 percent said they had stolen something from a store in the past year versus 27 percent in 2010.

I wonder what the answers to these questions would be if we asked our employees and job applicants and they gave us honest answers? Read more…

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