One of our clients is getting ready to have a retirement at a director level position, and they are determined to get the right person in the new position.
See, the person who is currently in the position and retiring is actually the 4th hire for the position over the last few years. One of their hires spent three days on the job and walked out. Another spent less than a week and left without notice.
Has this ever happened to you? Has it ever happened in a business you work with, or to a business you used to work for? It happens all the time.
There are a number of potential causes for a situation like this, but the one I hear most frequently is 'they weren't a good fit.'
And my response is: what does that mean? And what happened in the process of vacancy, interviewing, screening, and onboarding - why didn't you catch the mismatch?
The best way to prevent a 'bad fit' is to know what you need and what you are looking for. In order to do that, you need a job benchmark.
Here are three important considerations to improve your hiring:
1) Separate the technical aspect of a job from the personal aspect
People bring two different aspects to every job: the technical one and the personal one.
The technical aspect is narrow easy to dig out - most of the time this is what resumes show us. Did you complete enough math classes to be a good accountant? Are you familiar with a given HRIS? Do you know how to drive a stick shift? Generally, the closer the job is 'to the ground', the more important the technical aspect is.
The technical aspect is also the easiest part to change, as well as the easiest part to train - so keep that in mind when you are thinking about training.
But the other aspect is the personal. This is the matrix of behaviors, motivations, and skills that someone brings to a job. Does this person like to solve difficult problems and challenges? Do they have a high sense of urgency? Do they like to solve problems and meet goals through people? Are they good at persuading and marshaling others to a cause or purpose? Are they steady, reliable, and consistent - or are they restless and fast-paced? How attentive are they to detail? How accurate and precise are they?
Are they motivated by learning new things or by using their experience to solve problems? Do they prefer working on a team, or being a leader? Are they receptive to new ideas and strategies, or do they like to use a tried and true method?
The personal aspect is the most difficult to change - and training rarely works in these areas. For instance, the success rate of New Year's resolutions is about 10%. It is difficult to change behavior.
We focus all the time on what the job needs technically but rarely do we focus on what the job needs personally. Success depends on whether we accurately identify the personal needs of the job.
2) Gather subject matter experts to increase accuracy and buy-in
The best way to figure out what they job needs is to gather information about the from subject matter experts.
Generally, SME's are those that 'surround' the job: the person in the role itself, the person directly under the job, a peer of the job, and a supervisor or director of the job. This gives a '360 degree' perspective of what the job looks like.
Each perspective will provide information about the needs of the job. The direct report will be highly familiar with the task side of the job, as will the person in the role currently. The director will be able to point out how the job fits into the larger purpose of the department or function, and peer will be able to illuminate how it works in conjunction with other roles of the same 'level'.
The other thing that pulling information from SME's will do is increase their buy-in. By participating in the job benchmarking process, they will be able to state what the job does or does not need out loud, to themselves and to others. Having a say creates buy-in.
3) Screen your candidates and build your interview around that information
You have to have a good tool to screen. The assessments we use, from Target Training International, are top of the line. Used in more than 100,000 companies all over the world, their assessments have more than 30 years of successful use, along with dozens of validity and reliability studies. They are the best.
Whatever you use, it needs to be accurate. Resumes will tell you about technical knowledge and experience, so your assessment need to tell you about behaviors, motivations, and personal skills. By doing so, you will have a picture of the whole person.
Once you have your information, you need to ask interview questions about those areas. 'What are your strengths and weaknesses?' just isn't good enough anymore.
If the job needs someone fast-paced, you need to ask questions like 'Tell me about a time when you had a fast-paced job. How did you respond? Give me details.'
If the job needs someone highly analytical and critical, you need to ask questions like 'Relate to me a time when you worked with large data sets. What was the project? What was the environment like? What kinds of systems or processes did you use?'
Interviews shouldn't be used for gathering basic information. They should be used for applying the information you've learned from the resume and assessments to dig deeper.
Use these ideas to sharpen your hiring and selection. You will see better alignment in your company, less turnover, and save time and money.
We are experts at helping you hire the right people. Connect with us today for more!