Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Hiring For Attitude

Everything in the business journals points to a dramatic shortage of talent in the workplace today.  I can’t tell you how many articles on “hiring for attitude” I have read in the past three months.  If all of this is true, then I know one thing for sure.  Companies must change their approach when it comes to the selection of new hires.
Recruiting today is much more difficult than it has been in the past.  Finding qualified people for certain job roles is becoming a real art.  It is certainly a fact of life that our management talent pool is shrinking and that experience or specialization is in great demand.  Experience or technical proficiency has become a commodity and the hiring focus has shifted toward attitude. And this shift has precipitated tactical changes in how job selection is being conducted.  It is important that you focus on your talent management processes before it is too late.
Here are some suggestions for recruiting and selection improvement:
1.       It is important that you use the most talented employees in your company  to help with the recruiting process.  You can use them to create a benchmark or hiring profile that is truly representative of what you need in your workplace to be highly successful. 
2.       Use a well defined Behavioral Interviewing Process that includes a scorecard based on the people that achieve at a high level in that particular position and what accounts for high achievement.

3.       Use an Assessment Process to help you not mistake a low performer for a high performer.   Our assessment instruments focus on both the aptitude and behavioral traits needed for high achievement.  Make sure you use an effective hiring and selection instrument and not just a “personality” test.  Use this instrument to create a benchmark for talent.
4.       In the interview, ask the candidate to relate skill sets and competencies to their past work environment and make sure you listen to their complete answer and note the language they use in terms of how they describe themselves, the tense of the verbs used, and much, much more.   Don’t answer the question for them. Keep the question simple in nature and make them focus on the work environment and their past experiences.
5.       Make sure your management team is trained on Interviewing Skills.  The high achievement for the specific job role starts with the interview.  The technical and performance skills of the candidate must be determined in the interview and the commitment to success should be presented by the candidate during the selection phase as well. This is where a high performer is found!
I really feel that most companies fall down with their hiring and selection because they do not create a process and the managers feels that the interview is an event and nothing more.  I highly suggest that you formalize your process by using a checklist that includes all of the steps in the process from the classified advertisement, the phone screening interview, the initial face to face interview, the team interview, the interview with the immediate supervisor and/or owner, the Action Plan and Scorecard, the job description analysis, Assessment instruments, as well as background and reference checks. Create a step to step action plan for talent acquisition.  The key it to complete the process in its entirety without skipping a step.
Innovative Leadership of the Delaware Valley, LLC has the experience and the tools to make your Hiring and Selection Process more effective.
  • Interviewing Skills Workshop
  • The Achiever Hiring and Selection Assessment Instrument
  • The Behavioral Action Plan including Scorecard
Talent management is the #1 concern for most businesses today. Please call us at 609-390-2830 for more information on our Talent Management Process for Recruitment.

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