Hiring the Right Person?
In today’s job market many companies are swamped with applications for a
new position. There are more people looking for work than there are jobs
available.
While many employers find this to be positive, many are overwhelmed and
don’t know where to begin or what to believe. Some applicants with tell a
prospective employer anything they want to hear to get the job.
It’s important to realize that there are many people who may be able to
fill a position. Your goal is to increase the odds for identifying the
best person
for the job.
Define the job
: What are the skills this
employee needs to have to do the job? What skills are the most important for
the position? Ask other employees that are either doing the job or who would
work with this new employee for their feedback on the skills they feel are
vital to that position. For example, is attention to detail and accuracy a top
priority or are communication, listening and problem solving more important?
As you begin your selection process,
ask yourself these questions:
Does this person have the competencies I need for the job?
Does this person have the motivation to perform the job?
Does the person have the professional and technical knowledge to do the
job?
Cultural fit
: If a candidate came from a big
company where they were responsible for any one piece of a project, and at
your company the now have to be responsible for multiple pieces, do they have
the skills to adapt to your business? Can they handle the pace that your
business operates under?
Interview process
: Depth perception
interviewing focuses on capturing behavioral information that illustrates the
capabilities and performance related to specific job competences. Steve
Weitzenkorn, President of HR Outfitters (www.hroutfitters.com),
an employment-consulting firm, recommends using Depth Perception Interviewing
as part of the interview process.
Steve’s belief is that the best predictor of future behavior is past
behavior. He recommends using “S.A.I.L.” as a tool in interviewing candidates
to determine their behavior in past situations.
In a nutshell, an interview structured around S.A.I.L. provides you with
valuable insight into how an individual has performed in their past business
experience. For example:
S
= Situation
questions: Tell me about a time when . . .
A
= Action
questions: How did you handle the situation?
I
= Impact questions: What was the outcome?
L
= Lesson questions: What lessons did you
learn from this?
How do they rank
:
Establish an objective process to measure the candidate and their performance
on the competencies you desire for the position you are filling.
For example: use a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being a high level of competency
and 1 being the candidate lacks the skills for the competency. All too often
employers hire based on the first impression the candidate made. It is not
until later that the employer learns the candidate was great at making a first
impression, but lacks the essential skills to do the job.
Invest in a Personality Profile Tool for new hires
:
The average company will spend 30% of an
employee’s salary to replace an employee. Consider only the hard costs of
advertising or employment agency fees, and the soft costs of management’s time
to interview candidates and the training hours to complete orientation of the
person to the position, only to discover 45 days later the person lacked the
skills or the candidate wasn’t satisfied.
Invest in a personality profile tool to develop a better understanding of
the strengths and weaknesses of a potential candidate before you make a hiring
decision.
A recent study by Harvard University showed that nearly
80% of turnover is due to hiring
mistakes. The primary reason for turnover
was that the characteristics of the individual hired did not match the
requirements of the position filled. This study further proved that a
personality profile tool could increase the likelihood of hiring successful
candidates from 14% using interviews alone to 75% using a personality profile
tool.
There are a number of tools that have been developed and approved to give
you a more complete picture of a prospective employee before you hire them
check. A great resource can be found at
www.hiringsolutions.net
for a variety of tools to help you better identify the right person for the
job.
With today’s incredibly competitive job market, do your best to make
certain you understand what skills are needed for the job, that you have an
objective means of assessing candidates’ skills and that the job is one the
candidate will not only perform well in but will enjoy! Finding the right
person for the job is not an easy task. Investing your time and energy to
select the best person will have tremendous value in the end.
MEASURE-X
6227 North 15th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014
888-644-5499
www.measure-x.com
The Customer Service Training Experts!
