The movie Moneyball is a story about the use of statistical analysis in creating a team that would produce the highest probability for success. It worked for the Oakland Athletics with a 20-game winning streak in 2002, as well as the Boston Red Sox who used analytics to help break the Curse of the Bambino in 2004.
As an employer and a nursing home administrator, do you know the metrics of hiring for your key leadership roles? As a candidate interviewing with potential employers, do you understand the importance of sharing quantitative results as part of your success stories?
The “Moneyball formula” could be the key for employers and hiring managers wanting to be more consistent in making those home run hires. For candidates, this could be the competitive advantage you need in landing that “Field of Dreams” career position.
A common misstep by organizations in interviews is that they haven’t evaluated the key metrics for the role they are hiring for, and they frequently don’t incorporate those specific key metrics into the interviewing process as consistent questions. Instead, we observe hiring managers being too general with questions to potential candidates.
A common misstep is asking the following question: “What are your greatest strengths as a candidate?”
The more powerful question in vetting a potential candidate would be, “What are your greatest strengths, and can you provided specific examples that validate those successes?” I am confident that by rephrasing this question, a hiring manager will observe more quality responses from candidates, improving the vetting process and the probability of making the best hires to create a championship team.
For candidates who are interviewing, you may not have the detailed numbers for every question, but I would encourage you to come up with statistics that will help you hit your interviews out of the park. Most candidates I work with are humble about their success and don’t want to take all the credit. Celebrate your success and share those metrics! To really “wow” people in the interview, bring those numbers to validate how you could be the MVP for their team. For example, if nursing home administrator candidates focused on the following areas, it will make a difference in getting your desired job and will help you beat the candidate competition:
- Quality outcomes: How did you improve your quality outcomes? What examples can you share through improvements in star ratings or re-admission rates?
- Financial results: How were you able to reduce expenses and improve your bottom line results? What improvements have you been able to make with NOI for the facility?
- Customer service: How did you improve your retention rates of staff? Were you able to improve your resident satisfaction surveys?
- Occupancy and Payor mix: Did you improve overall occupancy and payor mix? How did you make that happen? Did you create a new service niche to help drive positive change?
I am confident if you go back and review your success in these focused areas, it will provide that winning swing and competitive advantage in your next job search.
I challenge you to find your Moneyball questions as a hiring manager to create your best employee lineup. As a candidate wanting to get that game winning hit and landing that dream job, review your professional work history and be prepared to share your winning numbers!
I will leave you with my favorite quote from Yogi Berra: “If you see a fork in the road, take it!”
Neil Hefta is the Vice President of Govig Healthcare Group.
