A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Jun 3, 2025 9:33:09 PM 7 min read
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Apr 15, 2025 7:50:47 PM 5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Prevent Job Seekers From Conning You
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Jun 9, 2025 9:49:41 PM 4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Inside the AI Hiring Revolution
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Jun 3, 2025 9:33:09 PM 7 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: The Agony of a Hiring Mistake, and The Solutions
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Apr 15, 2025 7:50:47 PM 5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Prevent Job Seekers From Conning You
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Jun 9, 2025 9:49:41 PM 4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Inside the AI Hiring Revolution
A Players AI Mis-Hires HR Hiring Success Verification Resume Hiring Challenges Hiring Methods Resumes Brad Smart Jun 3, 2025 9:33:09 PM 7 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: The Agony of a Hiring Mistake, and The Solutions
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Inside the AI Hiring Revolution
Topgrading’s VP, Andy Williams, recently hosted a thought leadership session titled Inside the AI Hiring Revolution - and trust me, if you care about hiring the right people, ...
7 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: The Agony of a Hiring Mistake, and The Solutions
Study after study (Google, Harvard Business Review, Gallup, LinkedIn) show hiring mistakes are a top concern of CEOs, HR leaders, and hiring managers. Leaders everywhere ...
5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Prevent Job Seekers From Conning You
One of the biggest drains on individual career success, and company success, is the mis-hiring of low performers. It’s a quiet epidemic undermining careers, company ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Economic Volatility Doesn’t Kill Companies – Hiring Mistakes Do
When the economy wobbles, most leaders get nervous and pause hiring. If the “pause” is as serious as a pandemic, millions of companies are forced to let people go.
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: HireVue vs. Topgrading to Limit Cheating: Topgrading Wins
The attached (click here), rather long article by HireVue goes into great depth on how ChatGPT is used by cheaters … and how HireVue interview questions can identify and ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Managerial Jobs Are Being Slashed - Topgrading Can Save You
Wall Street Journal's recent article, Where Have All The Managers Gone?, thoroughly documents the decline of managerial jobs. Huge and small companies alike are boosting ...
5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: #1 Question to Ask Job Seekers
Experienced interviewer, Elizabeth Gore, CEO of Hello Alice, wrote a blog (click here) advising interviewers, when interviewing job seekers, to ask: “What do you think we’re ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Free Book About an Amazing Leader
The blog before this one introduced America’s First Great Leader: William Bradford, Governor of the Pilgrims (read here). The blog condensed his accomplishments into a short, ...
8 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: America's Great First Leader
Thanksgiving is not the only time to remember the Pilgrims and their remarkable leader, William Bradford. He gets my vote for America’s First Great Leader, and terrific ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Many CEOs Don’t Trust Search Firms - Here’s a Solution
The (Surface) Problem We’ve known executive search consultants who are very competent, honest, and professional, and highly respected by CEOs. But … for the most recent four ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Remote Work vs. Office Mandates: A CEO’s Perspective on Trust, Flexibility, and Employee Well-being
The pandemic abruptly interrupted every organization, forcing us all into a 100% virtual world. There was no blueprint, no warning. It just happened. At first, we all ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: AI is Hiring Fictional People – Here’s How to Stop It
Blog Summary Video ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: HireVue AI Recommendations Miss an Essential: Honesty
Blog Summary Video ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Hiring the Right Talent: The Topgrading Question Everyone Should Ask
Blog Summary Video ...
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: 75% of Applicants Lie on Their Resumes
Watch Brad's summary video or read on. ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: AI is Destroying Hiring: Here’s a Solution
Blog Summary Video [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://topgrading.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Topgrading-Blog-Overview-Bots.mp4"][/video] As we all know, AI ...
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: High-Quality AI – Get This – Causes the Most Damage to Hiring
Blog Summary Video [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://topgrading.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Topgrading-Blog-Overview-AI.mp4"][/video] I’ve posted blogs ...
5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Your Possible Recourse When Job Candidates Lie
Bad hires are an expensive mistake. But if you make one because a job candidate exaggerated or lied about their experience, you might have legal recourse. If a candidate ...
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Evidence of Best Hiring Method
You’re probably reading this blog because you’ve experienced too many bad hires, and it’s frustrating, isn’t it? But don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault – it’s the ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Hiring Nightmare: Bots Hire Bots!
Artificial Intelligence is creating miracles in many fields, but one unfortunate trend is that bots are hiring bots! Huh? Yes, the attached article is a must read … for every ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Topgrade Your Partner
Over the many decades of Topgrading, it occurred to divorced clients that maybe Topgrading methods might help assure better relationships. When the subject is broached, most ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Hire the Right, Ambitious, Hard-Working “Young People”
Are you tired of hiring – that is, mis-hiring -- young people who insist on working: As much as they want (“Work is boring and travel is exciting”). When they want (“If I ...
2 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Ken Griffin Praises Topgrading
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin embraced Topgrading in the early 2000s. A few years later the company had blossomed, and Ken was nice enough to record over an hour of praise for ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Evaluate Different Hiring Methods
Are you an executive who is not satisfied with your hiring success? You’re not alone. A global survey of CEOs showed a chronic concern of CEOs is “bad hires.” In our practice ...
5 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: 11 Recruitment Tips to Find the A Players You Seek
Recruitment tips are nothing if you’re not sure what makes an A Player an A Player. This blog could list 1,000 recruitment tips, and it wouldn’t help if your top team members ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: The Most Revealing Hiring Question
At Topgrading, Inc. our main business is interviewing -- interviewing candidates for hire or promotion to senior jobs, where the costs of bad hires/promotions are what you ...
8 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How Executives Stay in Shape
Most A Player executives exercise regularly because they believe: No Pain, YOU Gain! In my practice of interviewing candidates for executive jobs, I have asked more than ...
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Retaining Employees with Huge Praise Failed: Here's a Better Way
If you’re a CEO/President/COO or Head of HR, you’ve been partially mis-lead with the non-stop advice on how to retain employees. You know all about The Great Resignation and ...
2 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Are Traditional or 'Virtuoso' Teams Best?
Harvard Business Review published a widely read and controversial article (linked here) based on a study of 20 leading companies. The article highlights how success was ...2 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How a CEO Successfully Navigated Through Incredibly Tough Mental Health Challenges
Topgrading supporter and Scaling Up coach, Kevin Lawrence, sent us an interview he did with a CEO who, with pandemic challenges mounting, discussed how he was able to ...
3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Are Your Interviews as Revealing as Speed Dates?
If you’re new to Topgrading, this blog will give you a hint that will make all of your hiring interviews the most revealing and honest of your career. Topgrading’s “secret” ...
4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: You Cannot Believe Resumes
Have you mis-hired people because they “fooled you?” Of course you have. Years ago we all thought that social media profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) would force people to ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How To Recruit A Players When They Are Hard to Find
You want to hire high performers, A Players, right? But what can you do if: Seven million Americans capable of working are choosing not to work, Help Wanted signs everywhere, ...4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How HR Can Sell Ideas to CEOs
In a recent blog, we addressed the reality that Human Resources is usually the lowest paid, under-respected function that reports to CEOs, and suggested that improving ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: For HR to Earn More CEO Respect, Here’s a Proven Method
This blog features the #1 most important step HR managers can take to increase the respect of their CEO. If you’re in HR, you know all too well that HR, for decades, has been ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Get The Best Service From Recruiters When Candidates Are Scarce
Over the decades, clients have dramatically improved the service they get from recruiters. You can too, whether you use: Contingency recruiters (low level jobs, you pay only ...4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: How to Recruit When “Help Wanted" Signs Are Everywhere
Hiring talent remains the number one concern of CEOs in the most recent (2021, just before the pandemic) Conference Board Annual Survey; it’s also the top concern of the ...
1 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Tips on How to Interview and Hire Smarter
Our research, spanning decades, shows that only 25% of an organization’s hires are high performers, A Players. With that being the unfortunate reality for most companies and ...2 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart: Estimate the Cost of Your Mis-hires
When CEOs, HR managers, and hiring managers, at all levels, take a few minutes to systematically estimate the costs of mis-hires, they are shocked … they then become more ...4 min read
Recruit and Retain Passive Candidates for Future 'A-Player' Roles
The hiring process can become a source of burn-out for your team if challenged with high turnover and mis-hires. Posting job ads and screening candidates over and over is, ...1 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:Wall Street Journal on How to Game Your Resume
With Artificial Intelligence-assisted Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) vetting resumes, job hunters should understand how to construct a resume that will maximize their ...3 min read
Consistent, Thorough Assessments + Job Scorecards Ensure Retainment of High Performers
In a challenging recruitment and retainment landscape, employers must utilize tools, processes, and resources certain to hire, retain and promote high performers at all ...3 min read
From The Desk of Brad Smart Top 10 Reasons People Quit Jobs
According to the Wall Street Journal, in March of 2022 a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs and 11.5 million jobs were not filled. That means that there are roughly ...3 min read
Company Culture is a Priority for Top Performing Job Candidates in 2022
The current hiring environment demonstrates that candidates believe company culture is just as important, if not more, than financial compensation. Job seekers prioritize ...1 min read
From the Desk of Brad SmartMight This be the Time to be an Entrepreneur?
Over 4 million people have quit their job since the beginning of the pandemic, they want something different -- maybe a virtual job or, on the flip side, an in-person job. ...4 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:Not Enough Applicants! Here Are The Best Ways to Recruit
One of the largest US retailers hung out “Help Wanted” signs … they got so few applicants that they hired “the next warm body,” but they hired so many low performers that ...1 min read
2022 Hiring Solutions: How to Attract and Retain Top Talent
Current pandemic-related hiring challenges have created a fiercely competitive environment for organizations looking to hire talent. Trends include offering higher salaries ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:HR Critical of Executive Leadership: 2 Keys to Improving Your Leadership Team
This year’s Global Leadership Forecast, in which DDI surveyed 18,000 executives, including 2,000 HR executives, shows an interesting trend: HR executives are increasingly ...2 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:Job References Done Right are Still in Style
The April 26, 2021 issue of The Wall Street Journal ran the article, “ When Job References Still Makes Sense Before Hiring,” and noted that they are a "less popular way to ...5 min read
How to Minimize Bias in Recruitment to Hire Better Candidates
Since the pandemic began, unemployment has fallen from a high of 14.7% to the lowest level, 5.2% (Sept. 3, 2021), leaving companies struggling to fill jobs. Desperation to ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:A Sure Way to Enjoy Job Security - A Primer in Topgrading
Your career has survived the pandemic (so far) but you know a lot of managers must worry about their near-term and long-term job security. Maybe you’re a bit worried too? The ...3 min read
From the Desk of Brad Smart:When Hiring HR Professionals, Combine “Soft Skills” and “Hard Skills”
SHRM recently published an article by a staffing company executive entitled “ Rethinking Soft Skills in HR.” The title is interesting because the rap on HR historically has ...
6 min read
Eliminate Costly Hiring Mistakes with These 4 Solutions
View the webinar on HR.com Recruiting and selecting the kind of talent that can assure success takes know-how, practice, and discipline – and an ATS alone won’t solve the ...3 min read
Common Interview Practices Result in Too Many Bad Hires
You know that vacant positions can cause a sense of urgency to fill jobs quickly. Work piles up. Deadlines are approaching. There isn’t enough time in a day or enough hands ...2 min read
The 20 Best Business Books of All Time
Every year various business editors offer their thoughts on the best business books of the year, or decade… or even “of all time.” What is often more meaningful is when a ...
4 min read
Two Questions That Reveal if a Job Candidate is a High Performer
Having furloughed or laid off employees, is your company finally inching back into hiring people? When you crank up hiring, will hiring just “okay” performers be good enough ...
3 min read
Using Phone Interviews to Improve Recruitment
80% of the roughly 1,000 CEOs we have spoken to on the subject say they do not get their money’s worth when working with outside recruiters. In this blog series, I’m sharing ...
2 min read
Working with Recruiters to Improve Your Candidate Pool
A lot of companies, understandably, do not trust contingency recruiters to screen candidates because they don’t ask candidates for mistakes, failures, or weaker points, and ...
4 min read
How To Get Top Performance From Outside Recruitment Firms
Are you disappointed by your experience with outside recruiters? In this three-part blog series I’ll refer to the recruitment industry as consisting of Executive Search Firms ...
2 min read
HR Executive’s “Traits Leaders Need” Needs More
Josh Bersin is an excellent columnist for HR Executive, and the publication’s recent article, 8 Traits HR Leaders Need to Succeed Today, is worth reading, not just for HR ...
2 min read
Should Candidates “Game the System” to Get a Job?
This blog is for job seekers, candidates for hire. All my career has been devoted to helping companies hire almost all high performers. This blog takes the candidate point of ...
3 min read
How to Ace Job Interviews
Job hunters, this blog is for you! The economy is opening up and millions of people are unemployed. If you will be job hunting or have any friends or relatives who will be, ...
3 min read
17 Words to Turbo-Boost Your Career
If you’re a Topgrader you already know this unique Topgrading “secret.” If not, you can start turbo-boosting your career by conveying to candidates, before anyone in your ...2 min read
Lessons from the Pilgrim Pandemic
As we continue to face the challenges of COVID-19, many comparisons are being made to past pandemics and crises. For this week’s blog, I want to bring you back to what I ...
3 min read
How to Interview Candidates Virtually
We at Topgrading have been interviewing virtually for years for clients outside of North America. During the past few years technology has become so reliable that clients and ...
3 min read
How to Create a Resilient Organization During the Pandemic
Human Resources Executive magazine published an article by Josh Bersin entitled “ 4 Ways to Build Organizational Resilience.” I partly agree with his four points, but I think ...2 min read
Hiring A Players is Easier in Down Times
When so many people are downsized, furloughed, and laid off, hiring seems like a low priority item. Like you, my wife and I know of dozens of people we interact with who are ...3 min read
Human Resources Praised for Contributing to Company Success, Even During Economic Downturns
During the health crisis, is there any good news for businesses? Yes. Human Resources is rarely praised for improving a company’s success overall. But it happens with ...
3 min read
When Hiring Has Slowed, It’s More Important to Use Best Practices
When you’re suffering through the agony of downsizing, the last thing you might be thinking of is hiring methods. But please, think again. You will be hiring a few people ...
1 min read
Topgrading Receives Top Recruitment Software Award from HR Tech Outlook
CHICAGO, March 24, 2020 - Topgrading is pleased to have been named one of HR Tech Outlook’s Top 10 Recruitment Solution Providers of 2020. The article highlights the ...3 min read
In Down Markets, Hiring High Performers is More Important Than Ever
As they say here in Arizona, “This isn’t my first rodeo.” In four decades we’ve seen many downturns. In all the down markets we have sat with CEOs and Human Resources as they ...
3 min read
How to Get Value from Your Reference Checks
Last month, we published a blog entitled “Hire Better This Year with This Easy Topgrading Secret.” In it, we explained one of the key Topgrading techniques: Threat of ...3 min read
Remembering Jack Welch: 4 of His Methods Can Work for You, Too
Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric from 1981-2001, passed away this week. He was a great leader and he left a huge impact on the business world. One of the things that made ...
2 min read
How Topgrading Contributed to Culligan’s Success
In the six years that Scott Clawson has been CEO of Culligan Water, the world leader in residential, commercial, and industrial water treatment, the company’s sales tripled ...3 min read
LinkedIn’s Interviewing Advice is Absurd
LinkedIn recently came out with a guide entitled The Interviewing Questions You Should Be Asking. The introduction states: Interviewing isn’t easy, but the process isn’t ...2 min read
How to Topgrade Your Department Even If the Company Isn’t Topgrading
Of course, we’re all for CEOs driving Topgrading throughout the whole company. For example, Jack Welch Topgraded General Electric and made it the most valuable company in the ...
3 min read
Hire Better This Year with This Easy Topgrading Secret
Do you feel the pain of hiring too many people who turn out to be disappointments? I’m sure you do, but in this blog, I’ll give you a free, powerful way to hire high ...5 min read
Interviewing Myth #10: One or 1 1/2 Hour Interviews Are Enough
Topgraders, you know this, but for everyone else… today (any day) probably millions of hiring interviews will take place and most will last one hour and almost all the rest ...4 min read
Interviewing Myth #9: Candidates Will Change
All hiring managers have been deceived at some point by candidates assuring them that they have overcome weaker points, failures and mistakes of the past, saying, “I’ve ...
4 min read
Interviewing Myth #8: You Can "Read" Body Language with the Commonly Given Advice
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course you do. This blog is part of a series dispelling 10 myths ...
4 min read
The Pilgrim Topgrader: William Bradford
Happy Thanksgiving! How's this for an idea: if the Pilgrims had not been Topgraders, had they not elected an A Player leader who packed his team with A Players, tiny Plymouth ...
4 min read
Interviewing Myth #7: Don't Ask Candidates Much About Their Education Years... Unless They Are Recent Grads
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course you do. This blog is part of a series dispelling 10 myths ...3 min read
Interviewing Myth #6: Talk 50% of the Time
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course you do. This blog is part of a series dispelling 10 myths ...2 min read
Wall Street Journal Trashes Employment Interviews
The title of the October 4 article is: " The Case for Hiring Managers Sight Unseen." The author, Sam Walker, researched methods used to hire managers. He was certain some ...3 min read
Interviewing Myth #5: Maintain Constant Eye Contact
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course you do. This blog is part of a series dispelling 10 myths ...4 min read
Interviewing Myth #4: Never “Lead the Witness.”
Interviewing authors and trainers do have a very good point: If the candidate says, “I was disorganized in that job and so I didn’t meet all my goals,” do NOT ask, “Did you ...
4 min read
Interviewing Myth #3: Always Remain "Neutral" in Interviews
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course, you do. This blog is part of a series dispelling 10 myths ...3 min read
Harvard Business Review is Wrong About Hiring
A recent HBR article, Experience Does Not Predict a New Hire’s Success , is misleading at best and dead wrong at worst. It’s based on flawed research from Florida State ...
3 min read
Topgrading Case Study ghSMART Named Top Consultancy
Sorry, this is a proud dad blog but… my son’s consultancy, ghSMART, recently received top rankings by Forbes (ratings by CEOs) and by Vault (ratings by employees). ghSMART ...
3 min read
Interviewing Myth #2: Take Very Few Notes
The authors and trainers behind this myth have gotten the false notion that taking notes will mostly show candidates the top of your head, and you need almost constant eye ...
3 min read
Interviewing Myth #1: Don't Interview Behind Your Desk
Do you want to hire better? If you’re a CEO, a manager at any level, or a Human Resources professional, of course you do. This blog begins a series dispelling 10 myths about ...
2 min read
A Simple Way to Determine Who Are Your A Players
Every leader, including you, wants to have a team of high performers, A Players. When leaders hear about Topgraders achieving 85% high performers they want to know how many ...
2 min read
The One Blockbuster Hiring Question
If you could ask a candidate for hire only one question, for any job from entry clerk to CEO, what would be the most powerful, most revealing question? I should know -- I’ve ...
3 min read
The Most Important Skill for Leaders
How do I know what the most important skill for leaders to have is? I’ve assessed and coached 6,500 executives, from Vice President to CEOs, and from startups to Global 100 ...4 min read
How to Fix Your Biggest Interviewing Mistake
This blog presents the most common and most serious interviewer error and shows you how to avoid it so that you can get the deepest insights into candidates for hire. We at ...3 min read
The High Costs of Mis-Hires Are Higher Than You Think
Do you know how much it costs you when you hire the wrong person? We have researched this topic for decades, and during all those years we’ve found that executives grossly ...3 min read
My Scariest Interview - He Threatened to Kill Me!
Hi, I’m Brad Smart, founder of Topgrading. This blog is mostly just to entertain you, but with one important lesson about interviewing. As a professional interviewer of ...1 min read
Two Dozen Brief Topgrading Case Studies
We have 300 pages of detailed case studies on our site, but we’ve had a lot of requests for brief summaries of just a few. This blog shows a couple dozen – just the name of ...
4 min read
How to Interview for Culture Fit
Assessing candidates’ “culture fit” is becoming more important everywhere, and the best way to measure culture fit is the Topgrading Interview. With record lows in ...3 min read
“Cheetah” CEOs Outperform “Lamb” CEOs
Topgrading research disputes what has become the mantra in leadership books and even Harvard Business Review, and that is that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the most ...
1 min read
#1 Management Book in UK Written by Topgraders
At Kensington Palace, my son’s consultancy, ghSmart, won a most prestigious award: The Chartered Management Institute named The CEO Next Door the BEST management book of the ...5 min read
Harvard Says: Your Approach to Hiring is All Wrong
If you’re a CEO, HR director or hiring manager at any level, your biggest headache is bad hires. This blog documents how bad hiring is in almost all companies, and I offer ...
3 min read
Ambitious Managers Should Work as Hard to Fix Their Serious Weakness(es) As They Do to Build on Their Strengths
Are you a manager and want to get promoted? Identify your weaker points and fix them. As a manager, do you want to coach your people more effectively? If so, be candid, show ...4 min read
Successful Start-up Executive Offers Keys to Success
“Without question, Topgrading absolutely has made my career and all the companies I’ve run more successful.” - TJ Johnson, Executive Chairman, HTG Molecular Diagnostics4 min read
Maintain Control of Your Interview (Part 2)
Last year our most popular blog was Maintain Control of Your Interview, Part 1. In Part 2, I review the basics covered in Part 1 and offer some more sophisticated ways to ...3 min read
“This hiring method made my career more successful.”
Most successful Topgraders attend a Topgrading Workshop (our public workshop or one just for their company) to learn Topgrading methods. Very successful executive and ...
5 min read
How to Communicate with CEOs and Other Top Executives
Having interviewed over 6,000 candidates for jobs reporting to CEOs, and having coached the candidates who were hired, I kinda know what ticks CEOs off day in and day out - ...4 min read
Harvard Business School Has It All Wrong?
The title of the article is: "It’s better to hire a pleasant employee than a superstar, according to Harvard."
4 min read
The #1 Competency for A Players
In hiring interviews, what is the #1 competency for A players you should focus on – the one that correlates highest with candidates who turn out to be high performers, A ...
4 min read
Company Hired Over 80% HIGH Performers and Became Most Valuable in the US
This blog is about a case study with the most impressive hiring improvement perhaps ever. The company’s hiring success shoots up from 25% to over 80%. During those years, ...2 min read
The C-Suite Lacks Confidence in HR Data
The title of this blog is actually the title of a very recent SHRM article: The C-suite Lacks Confidence in HR Data Analytics. But Why? Click on the link I’ve provided and ...2 min read
Candidate Dishonesty in Resumes and Interviews: The Solution
You’re skeptical, right? I’ve made the case that human nature makes lying on resumes and in interviews “understandable” and widespread, so how can there be a solution? Well. ...
1 min read
Candidate Dishonesty in Resumes and Interviews: The Cost
After a brief hiatus where our blogs focused on Building Your A-Team in 2018, we are back to finish off a series on candidate dishonesty. Blog #1 in this series suggested ...1 min read
Candidate Dishonesty in Resumes and Interviews: The Findings
The most common areas candidates falsify The first blog in this series presented research on the extent of dishonesty through the interview process. At Topgrading, Inc. we’ve ...
2 min read
Candidate Dishonesty in Resumes and Interviews: The Research
At some point in our career, we’ll be won over by a candidate who conceals their low performance by exaggerating their qualifications and performance on their resume and in ...3 min read
Psychological Principles All Hiring Managers Need to Know Part #3
Over the past few weeks, I’ve delved into a few psychological principles that you may come across during the hiring process. A Ph.D. in psychology is not a qualification to ...
1 min read
MOST Candidates Lie on Their Resume
Good grief, more than half of all candidates LIE on their resume! A Fortune article reports a study that out of 2,000 people, 58% of the candidates lied on their resume. And ...
4 min read
How to Shorten the Time Hiring A Players: Method #3
Whether you are a Topgrader or not, these proven methods can save you a lot of time, while maintaining the standard of hiring all high performers for ALL jobs. We keep ...1 min read
Topgrading Helps Save E*Trade
Topgrading has tremendously helped and even saved many companies all around the world. Read our case study on how Topgrading helped E*Trade. " “I came in as CEO in 2013, and ...3 min read
How to Shorten the Time Hiring A Players: Method #2
Whether you are a Topgrader or not, these proven methods can save you a lot of time, while maintaining the standard of hiring all high performers for ALL jobs. We keep ...1 min read
How to Make Hiring Easier and More Successful
Clients complain that the various hiring tools (tests, etc.) don’t seem to work very well, and they spend a HUGE amount of time screening low performers that create ...
2 min read
The Pilgrims Were Topgraders: That’s Why We Speak English
As an 11th generation descendant of Governor William Bradford, I have studied his amazing leadership, and I’ve always considered him to be The Grandfather of America, though ...
2 min read
Inc. Magazine's Advice to Interviewers
Inc. Magazine recently featured an article that lists 11 “to dos” when interviewing job candidates. Having interviewed around 6,500 candidates for executive jobs throughout ...
5 min read
How to Shorten the Time Hiring A Players 10 Part Series: Method # 1
Whether you are a Topgrader or not, these proven methods can save you a lot of time, but maintain the standard of hiring all high performers, for ALL jobs. We keep learning ...
2 min read
B Players are NOT Good Enough
Hundreds of companies have embraced Topgrading and have achieved 75%+ hiring success. This means that 75%+ of those hired turn out to be A Players. But, there sometimes is ...
1 min read
Short of candidates? Here’s a solution: hire A Players age 50+
Across the US and Canada companies large and small are hurting for qualified candidates. Most favor hiring young, energetic people, to flourish in the fast lane of global ...
2 min read
When to Replace...or Keep...B Players
Topgrading is all about getting A Players, high performers, in EVERY job, from CEO to cashier. So Topgrading companies have raised the bar from only replacing C Players to ...
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Three Definitions of an A Player
The term A Player has been tossed around a lot and causes a lot of confusion. Here are 3 of the most useful definitions I’ve found. In some circumstances I use all 3: High ...
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A Good Performer Ain’t Good Enough!
We at Topgrading, Inc. assess managerial talent and train others to do it. And we have software that motivates candidates to accurately guess how all their bosses would rate ...
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My Take on eShares “How to Hire” Principles
There are a lot of hiring myths floating around! Henry Ward, Founder and CEO of eShares, gave the following presentation at the eShares Town Hall in November 2015. I do NOT ...
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The Most Common Hiring Interview Method Sucks
I met with the heads of Human Resources of the largest 100 companies in the world, and they generally agreed about two things: #1 They use competency or behavioral interviews ...
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Myths About Reading Body Language
Having conducted more than 6,000 hiring interviews, I’ve naturally studied body language and I’ve read a lot of articles that say indications of lying are when the candidate: ...
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How to Prevent Promoting People Who Then Fail
Almost every leader I've interviewed has promoted people who were high performers in their current job, but failed when promoted. Years ago a popular business book was The ...
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The Most Surprising and Most Telling Interview Question You Should Always Ask
Every experienced interviewer knows not to " lead the witness" with questions such as, "Did you improve your work habits after being so disorganized in that job?'' or "After ...
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You Can And Must Interview for 50 (that's right!) 50 Competencies
Most companies identify 6 – 8 competencies interviewers look at for a job. But decades of research show that A Player managers are at least (Good) on 50 competencies. Gaining ...
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Job Descriptions Suck - They Cause Your Mis-Hires
Job Descriptions are often so vague that they lead to preventable mis-hires; Job Scorecards, with measurable accountabilities for everything including competencies, prevent ...
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Case Studies of Best Hiring Results
Across dozens of named companies that are case studies, the average improvement in hiring HIGH performers is 26% - 85%. No other hiring method has even one case study showing ...
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The Truth Motivator, a Powerful, Free, Hiring Method
The Topgrading "truth serum" scares away low performers and liars — those who lie on their resume and those who would lie in interviews. It's called the Truth Motivator, and ...
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Tech Company Topgrades…and Makes a Mint!
Topgrading is for tiny companies too, including start-ups. Topgrading is usually associated with mega companies like General Electric, Honeywell, Barclays, and others, but ...
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Topgrading Saves Lives (really….sort of)!
Topgrading helps companies survive, grow, and make money. The CEOs of the dozens of case studies at www.topgradingcasestudies.com say Topgrading has made their companies more ...1 min read
How MarineMax Achieved 95% A Player Success Rate with Store Managers Hired
MarineMax is one of the biggest boat dealership companies in the world, using Topgrading for hiring all employees. The dealer general manager job (store manager) is a crucial ...
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Why Most Promoted People Fail
Jack Welch was visibly ticked off. "Too few of the people we promote turn out to not be A players," he lamented, "and we have the best people management and development ...
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Do Not "Rank and Yank" Employees
In the best selling 3rd edition of Topgrading, my introduction says that a common myth about Topgrading is that every year you should force rank. Meaning rating employees ...
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One Topgrading Snapshot Saves $20 Million
We at Topgrading Inc., think the Topgrading Snapshot is the best candidate screening method on the planet – a zillion times easier and better than screening candidates from ...
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A' Player Competencies & Characteristics
A previous blog provided practical definitions of an A Player. In this blog we've aggregated the competencies clients have required in job scorecards. Here is that list: A ...
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A Player Defined
For four decades Topgrading, Inc. has applied and taught managers how to achieve 80%+ hiring success, with success defined as an A Player. We have refined the definition of ...
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Do You Have 75% Good Hires...Or 25%?
There is frequent confusion when Topgraders talk with non-Topgraders: Topgrader: “Research shows that 75% of people hired (even in leading companies) are mis-hires.” ...
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How A-Players Get To The Friggin' Point
A-Players have a lot of things in common, most of all a consistent record of achievement. They also have some common competencies such as incredible drive, and ...
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How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake Interviewers Make
Do more than half of the people you hire turn out to be disappointments? After interviewing candidates for hire, do you have an agonizing feeling in your gut that candidates ...
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The Best “Behavioral” Interview is the Topgrading ™ Interview
So-called behavioral interviews are: The most common “best practice” used for hiring by leading companies Supposed to reveal key competencies in candidates for hire, and Fail ...
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The #1 Most Important Competency: Resourcefulness
In hiring interviews, what is the #1 competency you should focus on? The competency that correlates highest with candidates who turn out to be A Players? It’s not what common ...
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Fixing the Biggest Mistake Interviewers Make
The biggest mistake an interviewer can make is to accept generalities (“My boss says I could communicate better”). The solution is to probe for specific examples so you can ...2 min read
Academic Study Validates Topgrading Hiring Steps
Introduction: Michael Lorence vetted Topgrading Case Studies in his Georgia State University dissertation entitled: The Impact Of Systematically Hiring Top Talent: A Study of ...2 min read
Fun Trivia: Topgrading Is As Good as Antiseptics!
Recently, I visited the British Museum in London and there is a model of Dr. Joseph Lister’s laboratory. Who? I immediately felt a certain kinship with him, because his ...4 min read
The Only Powerful Reference Check Method Gets Even Better
Introduction Topgrading created the most powerful method of reference checking and this article adds some important twists to make the process even easier and better. As you ...3 min read
Finding A Player Candidates: Part 3
Summary: We sent a Topgrading Tips article on recruiting best practices in January (“Six Tips for Recruiting A Players”) and got so many good suggestions that I sent another ...12 min read
Highlights of an Exciting Chat with a Topgrader: Chuck Cohen, Managing Director, Benco Dental
Chuck Cohen: Thanks to Brad for not only bringing us Topgrading, but it's very flattering to be asked to participate in the call like this. Our company: We are the third ...3 min read
Biggest Mistake Interviewers Make
Summary: The biggest mistake interviewers make is to accept generalities (“I could communicate better”). The fix is to probe for specifics. This article presents some ...3 min read
“I Can’t Find Good Candidates!”
Introduction: Despite the slowww recovery, with stubborningly high unemployment and underemployment, clients large and small complain that they just are not finding enough A ...3 min read
When a Topgrader Hires "Just a Warm Body"
SUMMARY: There never is a time when it’s a good idea to hire “just a warm body.” Never. To repeat: NEVER! BACKGROUND: Over the decades, Topgrading Professionals have heard ...10 min read
Chat With A Topgrader: Dave Sibley, CEO, White Lodging
Brad Smart: Welcome to Dave Sibley of White Lodging. White Lodging is one of the fastest-growing, fully integrated, independent hotel, ownership, development, and management ...3 min read
How NOT to Topgrade a Country (yes, Country!)
This article is just for fun. It is the story my client told of his attempt to Topgrade his home country … by orchestrating a coup. Seriously! And over the years I’ve talked ...2 min read
The Easy Way to Improve Your Interviewing Skills
Most Topgrading companies conduct surveys every couple of years to provide managers feedback on how their teams view them. And a very consistent result over the years has ...4 min read
Topgrading’s MOST Important Competency
Suppose we were sitting together on a plane and you asked, "Brad, I understand the basics of Topgrading, but what is the one thing that I could do to get the most out of ...4 min read
How to Topgrade Those Pesky Millennials
Introduction: For starters, stop referring to them as “pesky” or … spoiled, overly entitled, lazy, self-centered, lacking in loyalty, lacking in resourcefulness, afraid of ...5 min read
How A Players Stay in Shape
This article is sort of a "silver bullet," with advice that has enabled hundreds of busy, high-performing A Players to exercise, get in shape, and then stay in shape ... ...2 min read
How C Players and A Players Communicate with Top Management
Having conducted hundreds of thousands of 45-minute, confidential interviews in which senior executives are assessed by their coworkers, Topgrading Professionals have ...5 min read
How A Players Make Decisions
Summary: A Players 1. Learn at WARP speed 2. Analyze the heck out of everything 3. Connect the dots better than others 4. Are decisive ( but sometimes hip shoot) 5. Are ...15 min read
Chat With Successful Topgraders: Culligan International
January 9, 2014 Chat Transcript Guests: Scott Clawson, President & Chief Executive Officer at Culligan International; and Kelley Mudgett, Director of Human Resources - ...3 min read
When to Hire and NOT Hire People With Passion
Most companies include Passion among their competencies, but some are not clear by what they mean and end up hiring people who are passionate about something that will not ...7 min read
Topgrading Costs and ROI
We at Topgrading, Inc. might be a bit biased, but we believe there has never been a human resources or talent method that has so consistently demonstrated anything close to ...3 min read
Pilgrim Topgraders
Happy Thanksgiving! How's this for an idea: If the Pilgrims had not been Topgraders, had they not elected an A Player leader, their Plymouth Colony would have failed and the ...3 min read
Six Keys to Becoming a Happy A Player
The Topgrading Professionals at Topgrading, Inc., have asked tens of thousands of executives: How would you live your life or manage your career differently, if you could ...5 min read
Topgrading "CliffsNotes"
Below is your “One-Minute Topgrader” summary for your reference as you begin to Topgrade your organization from top to bottom. 1. Measure your baseline . Estimate percent ...1 min read
Topgrading the Government: BusinessWeek Features Geoff Smart
Government needs A Player business leaders! I'm the proud dad of Geoff, who has a large company that uses Topgrading methods and who has done pro bono work in government. ...3 min read
Take the Hiring Best Practices Test (for CEOs, Human Resources, and all Hiring Managers)
Having assessed or coached more than 600 CEOs and as many heads of HR, plus another 6,000 hiring managers, I have amassed incredible intel on hiring best practices. The most ...5 min read
Topgrading Is Most Crucial in a Sluggish Economy
During the past 40 years I've observed talent management practices in up markets and down markets, and have concluded two important points I'll discuss in this issue: Almost ...3 min read
Intuition Can Save or Kill Your Hiring Success!
Summary: Most hiring decisions are made intuitively, in only four minutes — with 75% of those hires resulting in costly mis-hires. Those who follow Topgrading disciplines ...3 min read
Maintain Control of Your Interview (Part II)
Last year the most popular Topgrading Tips article was Maintain Control of the Topgrading Interview. In Part II, I review the basics and offer some more sophisticated ways to ...4 min read
After Topgrading, Active Listening is Most Important
After reviewing the thousands of case studies I’ve compiled during my Topgrading history, I’ve found that when coaching managers, my single most common recommendation, other ...5 min read
What’s New in Topgrading for 2013?
Thirty years ago Wiley published my first book, Selection Interviewing: A Management Psychologist’s Recommended Approach (out of print),which introduced the Topgrading ...4 min read
The Topgrading “Truth Serum” NEVER Fails
Think of your career and all the people you've mis-hired because they had hyped their resume and faked their interviews. If all candidates had told you the whole truth, you ...4 min read
Jack Welch's Secret Weapon
Brad Smart helped create talent processes at General Electric when it was the most respected company in the world. CEO Jack Welch drove talent to amazing heights and has ...1 min read
"Truth Serum" for Hiring
You can avoid costly mis-hires by alerting candidates that they must arrange reference calls with former managers…and as a final step in hiring, ask them to arrange those ...1 min read
Why "A Players" Are Unemployed - And What to Do
I’ve never seen so many sharp people, A Players in their careers, unemployed. Since 2008, as you well know, terrific companies have chopped head count (and they still are ...1 min read
The MOST Important Competency
For over 40 years, more than two dozen Topgrading professionals and thousands of managers trained in Topgrading have scrutinized up to 50 competencies for high-level jobs – ...8 min read
Chat With a Topgrader: Eric Magnussen of Cancer Treatment Centers of America®
Every person in business will find this transcript of interest because of over a thousand cancer treatment facilities in the United States, CTCA is #1 in patient ...2 min read
Maintain Control of the Interview (Part I)
Just about every book on how to get a job says that interviewers are so bad at interviewing (that’s generally true) that to get a job offer, interviewees must take control of ...3 min read
Topgrading Derails Presidential Bid
BRAD’S STRANGEST INTERVIEWS: A TOPGRADING INTERVIEW DERAILS A RUN FOR PRESIDENT Want to listen to this? As you will soon understand, all names have been changed. A ...1 min read
HR is Failing!
The McKinsey studies have chronicled the steadily dropping respect top executives have for HR, and a recent HR Magazine does more of the same. Fortunately, Topgrading offers ...
