Hiring the Right Employees by Howard Shore, Date: Oct 09, 2013
Hiring the right employees for your business can be a challenge. Most of my clients in Miami and Fort Lauderdale were adamant that they have excellent recruiting processes. The people they hired went through rigorous interviews, had great backgrounds, and should be performing at expected levels. However, the key performance indicators were telling a different story.
Underperforming Employees
Dismissing the usual answer — “the employee must have lied during their interview” — we dug deeper and asked these key questions:
- Are expectations clear?
- Are expectations realistic?
- Is management sending mixed messages?
- Does the person have the tools to do their job well?
- Is the organization creating any barriers preventing them from doing their job well?
Hiring the Right People for the Wrong Jobs
After asking all the key questions, management realized they were hiring the right employees, but for the wrong jobs. The people they hired were a good fit for their core values and were well-credentialed. They just were not what these companies needed in order to produce the required outcomes for the jobs at hand. We see this all the time!
Management does not spend enough time really understanding the true attributes needed in the person to successfully fill the position. When attempting to hire the right people, there are many considerations in terms of experience, skills, talent, behavioral profile, and values needed to fill the role. In most cases, management fails to think this through before they hire the employee. Sometimes ,they go through the work of identifying what is needed and then fail to be patient in looking for candidates that completely fill those requirements. The result is a wrong hire.
Employee Recruitment Process
If you want to increase your success with hiring the right employees, it is imperative that you answer these questions before beginning your recruiting process. Make sure that everyone involved in the selection process knows the answers to these questions, and measure your hiring decisions against how well the candidates match the criteria. For those of you reading this and saying that you’ll take attitude over credentials any day, I say you better get both.
Key Questions for the Employee Hiring Process:
Ensuring You Hire the Right Employees for the Right Job
- What is the title of the position?
- What is the brief description of the position? In other words, what would not happen in this company if this position did not exist?
- What are the 3 to 5 most important measurable and specific goals/objectives this person will be held accountable to achieve?
- Who are the customers/clients that this position serves, and how do those customers/clients measure service?
- What key processes does this position own, and how do you measure that the process is working properly?
- What other key/critical processes are associated with the position, and how do you measure that the person in this position is doing their part well?
- Does the position have any certification and/or licensing requirements?
- What is the position responsible for and what is it accountable for?
- Who has input in this person’s performance review, determines their compensation/raises, and is responsible to help them develop?
- What do you see as the biggest challenges to success in this position and what steps must be taken to address them?
- What are the minimum qualifications for the position in terms of education, functional experience, and industry experience?
- What specific industry knowledge does this person need to have?
- What capabilities must the applicant be proficient in or excel at to be successful?
- What would you say are the critical obstacles for those filling the position, and what are the steps that must be taken to address them.
- Describe the ideal person for this position in terms of how they address new decisions/challenges, interact with people, deal with pace in the environment, and approach rules and procedures?
- How many subordinates does the position have? Describe the relationship this position has with it subordinates (e.g. can they hire and fire people?)
Results of Creating Proper Job Positions
Our clients have found their hiring success has improved dramatically once they have made a proper commitment to job design and position profiling. Only after you answer these questions should you begin your recruiting processes. The answers to these questions will help you have a much better mental picture of the ideal person. Without this information it becomes hard to screen out candidates as the ideal person is too vague.
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