(By Chuck
Szajikovics)
In the past couple of articles, we have discussed the various
types of candidates available to improve and enhance your
performance team. Opportunities for talent range from the
enthusiastic “Captain of the Football Team” and the ever-alluring
“Prom Queen” to the seasoned “Second Actors” and the skills
they bring commensurate with their particular level of experience.
Hopefully, we have added depth to your candidate pool.
Imagine you have an urgent need on your team. What happens
next? The hiring manager is usually responsible for submitting
their “request,” and it generally includes such items as
Responsibilities, Duties, Education, Experience, and a few
requisite Technical Skills or Qualifications. Some companies
will also include all the ADA requisite skills and abilities,
as well. Generally, the job specs stop there!
I recently attended a seminar where one of the topics discussed
was the “cost of a mis-hire.” What is that, really? Most
of us consider the more tangible costs—the recruiting fees,
relocation costs, time and effort spent interviewing, etc.
However, do you also consider productivity losses, business
opportunities or bids lost, and the potential damage to your
company’s reputation as a result of the aforementioned losses?
These costs are just as real. So what can you do to help
prevent that “mis-hire?”
When putting together the profile for the position in question,
do you take a serious look at what the previous person was
(or was supposed to be) doing, as well as what they should
have been doing for the future? How many times have you
said or heard others say, “Get me another person just like
the last one.”? Does that mean you don’t want to embrace
new technology or continually improve your products or processes?
Of course not. But we still say it. Ideally, the profile
should be set up to reflect not only where we are, but where
we want to go.
Once you have evaluated what the previous person accomplished
and more importantly, how they did it, have your hiring manager
determine both short-term and long-term expectations for
this position and incorporate the necessary skills and behaviors
into the profile. Once that’s accomplished, have them take
a hard look at the “interpersonal skills” and other “personal
characteristics” that this new person should possess that
will ensure their success once on board.
After all of this information has been prepared, you should
be in a better position to target the “right” person for
the job. As we discussed in the “WIIFM” (“What’s In It For
Me?”) article, your interview team will be prepared to sell
the prospective candidate on why they should come
to work for you. However, once you are interviewing, how
are you going to determine if the person is, in fact, “right”?
Of course, we all know that most of the information contained
in the job description will be contained somewhere in the
candidate’s resume. I say that with slight “tongue in cheek.”
If only it was that easy!
So once we are satisfied that the candidate has the requisite
education, experience, and technical skills, what else are
we looking for? Their behaviors—specifically the type of
on-the-job behaviors that indicate performance. The question
you should ask yourself is what do they do with
all of those skills and how do they do it? Said
another way, what behaviors do they possess that allow them
to consistently accomplish and exceed expectations?
To hire the right person, you must know exactly what you
need for that person to accomplish in this position
and the capacity they possess for reaching that desired
level of achievement. Likewise, you should know exactly
what that person wants to accomplish and the capacity
they possess for reaching that desired level of achievement. Your
needs and their wants should be in sync.
The resume is certainly the first step in determining these
crucial criteria, but ultimately, it’s not the most important
one. Consider the resume, but when decision time comes,
hire for the behaviors.
(Do we know what behaviors we’re looking for in a person
so they’ll be a significant contributor to the company’s
productivity and growth, and if so, how do we determine
if a particular candidate has them? For answers to these
questions and more, tune in next month, when we’ll address
the types of questions you may consider asking candidates
during behavioral interviewing and the types of answers
that will tell you if they possess necessary traits that
go beyond the basic job requirements.)
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