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.)