Published: Oct. 5, 1997

EDITORS: Rosse will speak to business leaders at a seminar from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at the Denver Marriott City Center, 1701 California St. The seminar is co-sponsored by Holland & Hart and the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry.

Management Professor Joe Rosse hopes his new book, “High Impact Hiring: A Comprehensive Guide to Performance-Based Hiring,” will help the average manager make better personnel-related decisions.

“When you look at texts on the subject, they’re too convoluted and theoretical for the typical manager to get any benefit from,” said Rosse, an associate professor in the College of Business and Administration at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“We set out to write a book that covered today’s hot topics – employee integrity testing, backgrounding and assessing counterproductive behavior – and also give managers proven frameworks for interviewing, assessing job performance and hiring,” he said.

For example, the text explains that structured interviews are far more valid than unstructured ones – in some cases, they’re twice as valid. Authors Rosse and Bob Levin, director of the Center for Human Function and Work at the CU Research Park, give managers a simple guide to creating structured interviews:

• Plan and standardize the interview questions. This way, the employer has a common frame of reference to compare applicants. This doesn’t mean, however, that the interview has to be so rigid that it feels uncomfortable for both parties.

• Ask questions that are specific to the job, not to the applicant. This seems like an obvious one, but many employers have asked questions such as, “If you were an animal, which kind of animal would you be?” Though answers to these questions may shed light on personality, they don’t let employers know if the person is right for the job.

ItÂ’s also helpful for employers to ask specific situational questions.

• Rate your applicants on a scale of your choice to discover which one is most appropriate for the job.

Rosse and Levin have extensive experience in hiring. They have developed hiring systems for Coors, Kaiser Permanaente, General Tire & Rubber and one of the nationÂ’s largest ski areas.

“High Impact Hiring” teaches managers to stop making “crisis hires” and instead to prepare for the future. “Managers need to know who they need, who they will need, and why,” Rosse said.

The book also outlines how employers can recruit and retain good employees and details a simple way for managers to update job descriptions.

The Oct. 14 Business Summit, which includes a copy of RosseÂ’s book and a continental breakfast, is $50. Rosse, Levin and Holland & Hart partner Jude Diggs will discuss Colorado employment issues in the hiring process.

Also, an executive roundtable luncheon for $75 is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at which Diggs, Rosse and Levin will discuss how managers can make hiring a strategic part of a business plan. They also will review Colorado employment laws. The combined program is $100.

For further information on the seminar or to register, contact Michelle Martin at 295-8379.