Improved Candidates, Working in Puerto Rico, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Take 5: Tips for Widening — and Improving — Your Candidate Pool – Kellogg Insight
Northwestern Kellogg Associate Professor of Management and Organizations Lauren Rivera and Professor of Finance Paola Sapienza recently published new research that offers discrete advice on how to “widen the talent pool, whether by uncovering your own hiring biases or by turning your sights to often-overlooked candidates.”
1. Be Aware of Biases
According to the article, “Even when we set out to hire on the basis of merit, hidden biases can get in the way. Being aware of those can help us not only act more fairly, but also make the best business decisions.” For instance, “Hiring managers also tend to look for a sense of personal connection with an applicant — with upper-class interviewers generally preferring candidates with similar pedigrees, whether they realize it or not.”
2. Think Small Specialist
According to the article, the late professor of management and organizations Keith Murnighan “found evidence of a bias towards generalists over specialists because hiring managers tend to look for one employee at a time — rather than hire an entire team all at once — it’s hard for them to see exactly which specialists they need.”
Murnighan wrote, “Look at the interactions from a distance and say, ‘What is it that I need to change? What do I know that I’m too close to the process to really see?’”
3. Look to Local Talent
Professors Rivera and Sapienza encourage companies to focus on hiring local talent so “reps are able to build solid relationships with their accounts.” In other words, “firms whose success depends on establishing themselves as a “local” brand should consider the importance of thinking — and hiring — locally.”
4. Value Veterans
Many companies overlook veterans as viable candidates, which is a shame because the military “fosters collaboration, adaptability, leadership, selflessness, and many other qualities that make veterans invaluable in the business world. The article cites research from Kellogg finance professors Efraim Benmelech and Carola Frydman who found that “firms run by CEOs with military experience performed better under pressure than those run by other CEOs.” They also found that “CEOs with a military background were up to 70 percent less likely to engage in corporate fraud compared to their civilian-only peers.”
5. Consider the Ex-Offender
Another population that job searches tend to neglect is ex-offenders. According to the article, “Many employers are reluctant to hire people with criminal records, assuming that they possess fewer skills, are more likely to behave unethically in the workplace, or both.”
“Not only can doing so save money on turnover costs, but from a societal level, it also can help keep ex-offenders from going to jail again.
Research from professor of managerial economics and decision sciences Nicola Persico, finds that “ex-offenders who do get hired are no more likely to be fired than non-offenders — and are about 13 percent less likely to quit, resulting in lower turnover costs for the companies that hire them.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
Testing the Waters: How a Team of MBA Students Put Their Business Skills to Work in Puerto Rico – Mendoza Ideas & News
Notre Dame MBA candidate Corey Waldrep ’19 samples the result of a low-cost water filtration kit in Puerto Rico. On the right is dirty, debris-filled water and on the left is filtered water. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)
Last month, Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business MBA students and former military veterans Tyler Shields, Luke Wilson, Dan Weathers, Corey Waldrep, and Robert (R.J.) Dulin, as well as advisor Andrew Wendelborn, traveled to Puerto Rico as part of nonprofit Waves for Water’s initiative to provide global access to clean water in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, whose 175 mph winds “destroyed more than 80 percent of the island’s power lines and left 3.4 million Americans in the dark” last September.
According to the article, the objectives of project were for “students to gather and utilize important demographic data; gain first-hand experience in working with an NGO partner to provide crisis support; learn a model for creating self-sustaining practices for local populations; and become immersed in best practices for working with indigent populations with dignity, equality and compassion.”
Shields writes, “A lot of what we did over there in Puerto Rico was so-called guerrilla humanitarianism. You don’t necessarily know where the need is or what the need is. You just know that there is a need.”
You can read more from the article here.
As Uber, Lyft Eye Public Offerings, Gies Professor Says Clock Could Work to Smaller Rival’s Advantage – Gies College of Business News
University of Illinois Gies College of Business Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance Rob Metzger took to the blog to offer his expertise drawn from 20 years in investment banking on whether Lyft or Uber should go public first.
According to the article, Uber’s $120 billion IPO is more likely to go public first in late 2019. But Lyft’s roughly $15 billion IPO could beat them to the punch in spring of 2019.
Metzger writes, “I think the Lyft team feels that, even though they’re significantly smaller, they believe that their financial metrics are better, their operating metrics are better, and they haven’t had some of the negative press that Uber has had.
“So [Lyft] may want to be out on the forefront to tell that story, as opposed to being in Uber’s shadow.”
Check out more from the full article here.
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
