The interview can be divided into the following nine steps:
The total time for the interview should range from about thirty minutes to about sixty minutes.
A thorough understanding of each step is important:
1. Relax the applicant and build rapport. (2-3 minutes)
Although this step should take no more than 2-3 minutes, it is important to all the steps that will follow in the interview. The objective is to set the stage for a friendly and open exchange of information. Your smile and warm welcome are important. Possible discussion topics include the weather, any difficulty in finding the farm, a school attended by both interviewer and interviewee, or a friendly dog who enthusiastically greets all visitors. Confirming that the applicant has parked in the right place may be helpful. Maintain a casual and non-interview atmosphere during this step.
2. Give the applicant a copy of the job description and describe the job in considerable detail. (3-5 minutes)
It is essential that the applicant understand the job you are filling. Do not depend on general terms like milker, taking care of calves, driving tractor and general farm work. These terms vary substantially from farm to farm. Be specific about the duties and responsibilities.
3. Determine the accuracy of the information on the application form. (4-7 minutes)
Review the applicant's training directly required for performance of the job, job experience directly related to the position you are filling, and gaps of time between jobs. Pay particular attention to vague reasons for leaving previous positions.
4. Ask a series of open-ended questions previously prepared. (10-15 minutes)
Your careful preparation for the interview should be apparent to the applicant. Avoid groping for the next question to ask. Impress the applicant with your ability to ask questions that are fun to answer. Keep reminding yourself that you are conducting an interview not an interrogation.
5. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-5 minutes)
Note that thus far in the interview, the applicant has been responding. At this point, the applicant is given explicit encouragement to ask questions. You should answer the questions in a straightforward manner. Note carefully the content of the applicant's questions, the insight shown, and the follow up questions when pursuing a particular point. Pay careful attention to hints about the needs the applicant hopes to satisfy through the job.
6. Summarize your farm's mission, objectives, and business philosophy. (2-4 minutes)
This is a "selling" step. You want the applicant to have a positive impression of your business even if an offer will not be forthcoming. Take time to explain the uniqueness of your business, the importance of people in accomplishing your goals and your vision of the opportunities in the dairy industry. Also explain the pride you have in former employees who have moved up in the industry.
7. Summarize the opportunities provided to the person in the position. (2-4 minutes)
You now turn from the general summary about the farm business to a specific summary about the position you are filling. This is also a "selling" step. It is appropriate to again explain the importance of the position to the success of your business, the opportunities there will be to learn the necessary skills for success, and the satisfaction that can be gained through the position.
8. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-10 minutes)
This second opportunity for the applicant to ask questions should be used to emphasize your desire to be an open and effective communicator. Show your caring attitude. The applicant may have thought of additional questions or now has the courage to ask questions that earlier seemed too daring. This second opportunity for the applicant to ask questions further encourages the applicant to interview you instead of just being interviewed by you.
9. Close with information about plans for making a decision. (2-4 minutes)
Be specific about what happens next, when you will complete interviews and when you plan to be back in touch with the applicant. Be sure the applicant does not leave guessing about what the next step is. Be careful not to raise the applicant's expectations. Simply express appreciation for the applicant's time, provide your name and telephone number, and welcome personal contacts should the applicant have any questions.
Interviewing is difficult. Knowing how to do it well makes it enjoyable. Some do's and don'ts can serve as reminders on how to improve your interviewing skills.
Do:
Don't:
Immediately after the interview and certainly before interviewing another candidate, you should complete an interview form and summarize your impressions of the applicant. Relying on memory to recall key points about applicants will lead to confusion among the applicants and vagueness about strengths and weaknesses.
The written summary should include job experiences; notable knowledge, skills and abilities; motivation and energy; overall strengths; and overall weaknesses. The summary should conclude with an overall score for the applicant. This summary should be prepared before discussion with the other interviewers.
After completion of all interviews, the interview team should discuss each applicant and come to a consensus evaluation.
Step 6: Check references
References can confirm information gathered through the application form and the interview. References can provide additional information about those applicants to whom you are still giving serious consideration. Some employers skip this step because of previous employers' reluctance to share any useful information out of fear of defamation litigation. Reference checks can still be productive. Personal visits or telephone conversations will be more productive than asking for written comments. Getting references from your personal acquaintances or from people well known in farming circles will be more productive than asking strangers. Asking about the most important contribution the employee has made is likely to be more helpful than asking if the reference knows of any reason you should not hire the person. A reference's tone of voice may express more than the words being said. Asking references provided by the applicant to suggest other people to contact can result in additional useful information.
Keep in mind that some references have reason to give less than candid information. Some employers may praise a problem employee in hope that an offer from another farm will solve a messy problem. On the other hand, some employers may hint at some problems in hopes of preventing you from making an offer to an outstanding employee.
Asking the same carefully prepared questions of each reference will be helpful. Using a structured form can greatly simplify recording information received from references.
Step 7: Make a selection
The objective in making a selection is to be as objective as possible given the job description; knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the job; and the information available concerning each applicant. Selection biases can easily creep into the selection process. Five potentially important selection biases are:
1. Stereotyping: Attributing certain characteristics to a particular group of people. "People who grew up on dairy farms like animals."
2. Halo effect: Regarding highly an individual who has characteristics you particularly like. "A person, like me, who drives a Ford, prefers Jerseys and is a Chicago Cubs fan will be a good employee."
3. First impressions: Judging prematurely based on appearance, handshake or voice. "He has a good firm handshake, a friendly smile, no ear rings, and short hair. I knew before the interview started that he would be a good employee."
4. Contrast: Measuring against the last person interviewed. "After that last person we interviewed, I had begun to think we would never find an acceptable person."
5. Staleness: Discounting individuals who were interviewed early in the process by giving preference to the individuals interviewed just before they make the selection.
If no satisfactory applicant is found, start the process over rather than deciding to take a chance on a doubtful applicant. Successful use of this guideline requires that backup labor be available so that they can avoid crisis hiring.
Step 8: Hire a person
Make an oral offer in person or by telephone to your first choice followed by a written offer that summarizes the key conditions of employment. In making the offer, emphasize that the applicant is the first choice among several qualified people. Show enthusiasm and make obvious your hope that this person will soon be joining your farm team.
The written employment agreement can be a letter of explanation or a form with blanks filled in as appropriate. Whatever the form, the agreement should include a description of the job, a statement that the employment is "at will," compensation, benefits, work schedules and the other important details.
Other applicants interviewed will want to know the outcome of your job search. Every person interviewed should have a follow up message from you. A form letter should be sent to all applicants interviewed saying that the position has been filled and thanking them for their interest in the job. The follow up letter should have a positive tone rather than be a "I reject you" letter. You can comment on the strong field of candidates, express appreciation for the applicant's interest in the job and perhaps say that his or her application will remain on file in case another position opens up. Such a follow up letter should not give specifics about why another person was selected.
Keeping Employees
Following careful recruitment, selection, hiring, and training, an employee is expected to become an important part of the business. Much has been invested in the employee and much is expected. Taking specific steps to keep the person employed on the farm is likely to be cost effective. Of course, some employees will "outgrow" their current positions and can advance their careers by changing employers. Nevertheless, excellent labor managers are typically recognized as having low rates of labor turnover. Creating opportunities for employees, effective communication and fair compensation are likely to contribute to the retention of employees.
Creating Opportunities for Employees
Good labor managers are creative. They are regularly challenged to find new ways to keep employees motivated and interested in their work. Creating new opportunities for growth and progress within the farm business is difficult in most situations because of the relatively small number of employees and the lack of variation in job responsibilities within the farm. Therefore, a farm labor manager generally must give special attention to creating opportunities. Among the possibilities are increased involvement in extension meetings and seminars, increased decision making responsibility, partial responsibility for training new employees and supervising other employees, more freedom to work without close or daily supervision, some choice of working hours, and part ownership.
Another aspect of the creative challenge facing a farm employer is development of desirable working conditions. The equipment, machinery, and buildings on the farm directly affect working conditions. Substituting equipment and machinery for labor to make the job physically less demanding may help make a job more attractive. Training programs to help equip an employee for the job responsibilities also are important to creating desirable working conditions.
Effective Communication
Because labor management involves getting things done through people, the labor manager must communicate with employees. The effectiveness of the communication will directly influence labor management success and labor turnover. A labor manager's communication with employees involves much more than just "telling them" what they need to know. Furthermore, communication is not limited to verbal exchanges between two or more people. Communication may occur through writing, pictures, charts, and posters. Communication may also be nonverbal, i.e., not involving verbal or written actions. A smile, frown, handshake, shrug, grunt, nod, gesture and even silence are also means of communication.
Not all communication is effective. Effective communication involves being understood and getting desired results. Part of a labor manager's communication success involves being sensitive to communication barriers. This sensitivity includes using words employees understand, being a good listener, encouraging them to ask questions, and avoiding harsh criticism of those who do not understand.
Fair Compensation
Worker compensation or payment may be divided into two parts: dollars and benefits. Farm workers are generally paid less than non-farm workers with comparable skills and job responsibilities. However, the problems associated with compensation are not limited to increasing dollar incomes of workers. In fact, employers who depend solely on pay increases to keep key employees are likely to be disappointed with the results. Clearly, workers' incomes need to be analyzed in terms of what they could earn in other farm and non-farm positions. However, more than the dollar amounts need to be considered in these evaluations. An employee is likely to be particularly sensitive to the benefits received in the farm job compared with the benefits received in non-farm jobs. Examples of such benefits are paid vacation, sick leave, overtime pay, and life and health insurance.
It is important to view benefits from both the employee standpoint and the employer standpoint. For example, a farm employer providing a house to an employee may view the benefit as a way of getting some return from a house that could not otherwise be rented. However, an employee may view the benefit as a negative characteristic of the job because of the employee's family living in an undesirable house or living too close to the "job."
Employers often consider wage incentive plans attractive because they tie a worker's earnings to how well a job is done. An assured reward for an employee's high quality performance is seen as a way of reducing labor turnover. However, these wage incentive plans are not a cure all for labor turnover and other labor management problems. Wage incentive plans cannot replace effective recruiting and training of workers. But a wage incentive plan may help keep an outstanding employee. Employers can expect an increased level of productivity and a decreased rate of employee turnover if an employee feels rewarded for efforts to improve production levels. If a worker is dissatisfied by factors other than the rate of pay or working conditions, a wage incentive plan will not reduce labor problems.
If an employer and employee should agree that a wage incentive plan would be desirable, the following steps may be helpful in developing and starting the plan:
Summary
"This is all nice but ... I don't have enough time to do what I already know how to do. How can I learn to do all this?"
"This is all nice but ... I am looking for the Ford of interviewing not the Cadillac you have described."
"This is all nice but ... I don't know of any farmer who pays this much attention to filling a position."
The recipe for farm success is complex. Cows, equipment, financing, land and buildings matter
a great deal. People also matter. To a great extent, farm managers reach their goals through
people. Getting things done through people requires competent employees. Mediocrity in the
process used to fill positions can make a huge difference over time. To have competent
employees, people who have the potential of being competent need to be hired. The question is:
Do I maximize my chances of hiring the "right" people or do I leave my success to chance?
Each farm manager must answer this question.
Training Farm Employees
Bernard L. Erven
Department of Agricultural Economics
Ohio State University ExtensionIntroduction
No matter how carefully a farm employer recruits and selects employees, they will lack some necessary knowledge and skills. Training is essential if employees are to reach their potential. Training should help them feel like they are creating better opportunities for themselves and at the same helping the farm accomplish its goals.
Training is anything an employer does to help employees learn to do their work the way the employer wants them to do it. Training is an investment in people benefiting both the employer and employee. In an ideal employer-employee situation, the investment in teaching allows an employee to do the job better. Doing the job better benefits both the employee and the farm. Trainers (teachers) are challenged to understand what the employees (learners) know from previous training and experience. Trainers need to see the job through the eyes of the employees. Good training makes complicated and complex tasks seem simple. Note how complicated riding a bicycle seems until one knows how. All experienced computer users know there is not an "any key" on a computer keyboard. Yet many inexperienced users have searched in vain for such a key to be able to follow the direction in the computer manual that says, "Press any key and continue." Finding pneumonia in the dictionary is possible only if one knows that it begins with a "p" rather than an "n."
The importance of training programs on farms will increase dramatically. Margins of acceptable error will grow smaller and smaller. Equipment will become more complicated. The work will be more complex. People with all the necessary skills and experience for success on a farm cannot be hired. A decreasing percentage of new employees will have been raised on a farm or will have had previous work experience on a farm. In this environment, labor can easily become the weakest link in the plans for success of the business.
Content of Training
Training of farm workers involves four kinds of learning: knowing, doing, combination of what
is known or can be done, and combinations of knowing and doing. Learning infers:
1. Knowing something intellectually or conceptually one never knew before, e.g., visitors can carry disease onto a farm.
2. Being able to do something one could not do before, e.g., train a new employee to clean equipment.
3. Combining two knowns into a new understanding of a skill, piece of knowledge, concept, or behavior, e.g., knowledge about the causes of pneumonia in pigs and knowledge about air movement in closed buildings combined to understand the importance of ventilation.
4. Being able to use or apply a new combination of skills, knowledge, concepts, or behaviors, e.g., combining mechanical skill, attention to detail, knowing what to listen for, and superior hearing to recognize when a belt needs tightening.
All four kinds of learning should be part of a training program as appropriate. Training must be more than teaching employees how to do things. Helping them understand the importance of the job, the principles behind the job, and how they can use what they already know are important.
Conditions that Facilitate Learning
Each farm should have a plan for training. The plan should include creation of a positive environment for learning. Reinforcing the following assumptions in each trainer and employee helps create an ideal learning situation:
Training Objectives
An employee training program should have three distinct phases:
Orientation
A farm employer has only one opportunity to make a good first impression on new employees. The first day that a new person is on the job provides many "teachable moments." Nearly all employees want to get off to a good start. The good start depends more on orientation than on how much work the person does the first few hours on the job.
Help every new person get off to a good start. Orientation is as important for the part-time high school worker as for the new full-time employee. Even a relative or nearby neighbor known for years will benefit from careful orientation.
Most employers anticipate some obvious questions. "Where should I park?" "What time do you want me here tomorrow?" "What do you want me to do?" Orientation should go beyond answering these first questions. Here is the opportunity to convince each new person that he or she is important to you and to the farm.
Planning the Orientation - Orientation actually starts with the advertisement of the position, the interview, and the job description given the new employee. Being businesslike in the hiring process is important. A written job description and written offer with the conditions of employment help set a positive tone.
After a person is hired and before the first day of work, several questions need to be answered:
One person should be charged with planning and conducting the orientation. Other people, including employees, can be involved even though responsibility is centered in one person. Orientation should lead smoothly to the start of job training.
Content of Orientation - The specific content of the orientation depends on the size and complexity of the farm. Sensitivity to immediate information needs and postponing the nonessential information to the second phase of training are the keys to successful orientation. Where to park the car, what to wear to work, location of the bathroom, names of co-workers and to whom to go with questions are examples of content essential to orientation. Procedures for arranging which week to take vacation are not.
Following is a list of items to be considered in planning the details of the orientation:
Farm Characteristics
Personnel Policies
Employee Benefits
Note: The details of some of these benefits are best left for discussion at a later date.
Introductions
Job Duties
Key Point - Your reaction to these suggestions may be, "It would be nice but.... I don't have time for this stuff because we've got work to do," or "Only big farms need to worry about these things," or "I hire people to work not learn the history of my farm." Key point -- An employer will do better with happy, positive and enthusiastic people than with people who are just there to do a job and go home. Well planned and conducted orientation helps people get off to a good start. It increases their chances of being happy with their jobs and positive about the employer and the business.
Learning to Do the First Job
Training the employee to handle the first tasks logically follows from the orientation. As with orientation, employees are generally anxious to learn how to do the first job. The tone and level of expectations set in the orientation should be carried into this phase of training. As with orientation, the emphasis should be on what the person is learning, not on how much work is being done. If a good foundation is laid during orientation and early training, the amount of work being done will be a minor consideration.