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March 22nd, 2010 by Leadership Catalyst

The American Idol Way To Finding The Best
Here is the mother of all corporate questions: how do I find the right people for my organization? Reams of books have been written about how to find that right fit, oodles of tests have been designed and deployed only to come up with so-so results.

Here is the short and skinny to finding the right people:

1. Today everyone can look good on paper, you can download template CVs from the internet that make Einstein look like an apprentice janitor
2. Today many people have become test savvy, outsmarting the cure-all HR testing methods that are supposed to ferret out your darkest-deepest personality secrets
3. Today many candidates have become interview savvy and can dutifully answer all the ’surprising’ questions HR has in store for them.

So, what works?

Let Them Tell You About Themselves:
Have you ever watched American Idol? What do American Idol and your company have in common? American Idol and your company are looking for talents to fulfill specific goals. To find the ideal talent-goal match American Idol holds auditions in which each hopeful can showcase his/her abilities.

Instead of being asked to fill out endless mindless personality profiling tests that reveal little or nothing about the individual’s true abilities the candidates are simply asked to perform the task they came to fulfill: Sing!

Just by observing the candidate’s actions, behavior patterns and innate talent the panel judges and the audience can make pretty accurate decisions about the individual candidate’s personality (egomaniacal, humble, open, aggressive, etc) as well as gauging their innate talent at the task to be given, in this case: singing…

Have Them Audition – YouTube Your Way To A Great Team
Of course you may say ‘Hey, that’s all fine and dandy, but I am not Simon Cowell and I am not looking for singers, so how does that apply to me?

The answer is: how about you are Joe X and you are looking for really hot salespeople.

You can now throw the market a challenge and put an invitation into cyberspace: ‘We, Company X, are looking to hire hot, talented salespeople who are ready to make excellent money. Send us your personal YouTube video that:

1. Tells us about you
2. Tells us about what makes you special unique (USP)
3. Gives us 3 examples of how you would sell ice to an Eskimo, sand to a Bedouin and saltwater to a sailor

Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. This exercise is the best people filter you will find. Individuals willing to take on the challenge of making their own video have to be entrepreneurial, inventive, imaginative and driven to go the extra mile, doesn’t that sound like a great set of basic characteristics for a new team member?

In An Age Of Self Expression Allow Them To Express
On top of that: allowing people to tell you who they truly are will allow you to uncover some amazing and unexpected individual talents that would have been smothered by run-of-the-mill personality tests.