Janet Boydell has a better way to hire people.

The San Dimas resident is the author of "A Hire Connection: How To Make Your Next Hire Your Best Hire," published in October by AuthorHouse in Bloomington, Ind.

In 172 pages, Boydell argues that most if not all of the interviewing and hiring methods used by U.S. companies are obsolete, self-defeating and should be revised immediately.

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Photo By Larry Rose

Janet Boydell is the author of 'A Hire Connection.'

"The approach to interviewing and hiring people hasn't changed much during the past 100 years," said Boydell, who operates a five-person consulting firm, also called A Hire Connection, at her home.

"The employer's attitude is 'we have the job, now you jump through the hoops and maybe we'll hire you.' Unfortunately, that doesn't get you the best people. The best talent usually walks out the door."

Boydell, 54, graduated from West Covina High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

She was a vice president with CJA Executive Search in Torrance and held assistant controller and controller positions in the investment banking industry, where she specialized in accounting.

Boydell developed an interest in hiring techniques after noticing that many job candidates with whom she spoke were overcome with nerves minutes after entering her office.

"I was sensitive to what people were going through and I tried to get them to relax, but it wasn't easy," she said. "I figured out they weren't telling me who they were and what they were about because they were in interviewing mode. The bottom line is that not many people say they enjoy job interviews."

Boydell and two former co-workers Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard, wrote "You Aren't The Person I Hired: A Chief Executive Officer's Survival Guide to Hiring Top Talent," which was published in 2005.

She began writing her own book during the fall of 2006 after developing her Fast Forward Resumè technique, which she devised after identifying fundamental flaws in basic job interviewing and hiring.

"The employer starts out with a job description, which doesn't tell you anything," she said. "It defines the position down and keeps you from doing anything. And the prospective employee comes in with a resumè, which doesn't tell you what you need to know."

Boydell spoke recently with The Business Press about why she wrote her book and the changes she hopes it will engender among hiring managers.

Question: You say in the book that reading a resume is like looking the rear-view mirror. What do you mean by that?

Answer: A resumè doesn't tell you where a person is going. It only tells you where that person has been. The idea behind fast-forward resumè - and I spell out how to do this in the book - is to set up the interview so that you establish where you want to be three to five years down the road, and then you find the right person to match those goals.

Question: But is that such a radical notion? Isn't that what companies do anyway?

Answer: I don't think so. A lot of people who have read the book have told me they've never taken the approach to hiring that I spell out in the book, which is to persuade hiring managers to think about where a person is going to be in a few years instead of where they've been. That's the approach I'm trying to change.

Question: Why did you decide to write the book?

Answer: There were some things in the first book that I wanted to expand on. This book is more personal, it's more my perspective on hiring people. It's my "how-to" guide to hiring. The first book is also aimed at upper management, and I wanted to write something for middle management. But hiring techniques should be the same for both.