Hiring candidates who fit the job

Very often companies will hire for need without first carefully evaluating the qualities most desired in a candidate.

In fact, it is not all that uncommon for a company to start recruiting before writing a job description.

The hiring manager feels that he knows what he wants and "will know it when he sees it."One of the problems with this approach is that no one else in the company, many of whom will be heavily dependent on the person in the position, is given a chance to participate in defining the job or the most important qualities for a candidate to possess.

One of the reasons this happens is that writing a job description is not all that easy and will be avoided if possible, especially in smaller companies that do not have a human resource person available to guide the process.

Ironically, the manager will need to address the job-description issue after the person is hired if only to provide some direction on what exactly the person has been hired to do.

The reason a job description is so difficult to complete is that it really is the end of a fairly lengthy process, at least the first time one is developed for a specific job.While the hiring manager is usually the person responsible for developing the job description, the actual development should be a collaborative effort with others in the company, especially those working closest with the position and most dependent on how well the person performs.

Another reason for co-workers to be involved in the hiring process is that it is an opportunity for employees to reinforce the company culture, essentially its value system.

Every company has a culture, a way of doing things, understood as "how we do things here." When someone is hired it is important that the new hire fits into the culture, not just possess the specific job skills required for the job.

There may be many candidates who possess the proper skills but if they do not fit in, their chances for success are greatly diminished.

If the qualities most valued by a company are not clearly defined and well articulated, then qualifying candidates based on those desired behaviors can be very challenging.

For example, some of the qualities that might be important, but difficult to measure, are decisiveness, sociability, independence, competitiveness, and energy level, among others.While these are, arguably, as critical to success as the actual job skills, they are very difficult to determine through the interview process or reference checking.

The current solution for many companies, in fact, about one-third of all companies, is to use assessments to uncover these qualities.

There are many different types of assessments on the market today and carefully choosing the correct instrument will provide information that is very difficult to learn any other way.

The number of companies using assessments has grown significantly and most companies, once started, continue to use assessments as an integral part of their hiring process.

To determine which traits are most desired, a company can start by assessing current employees, and then correlate the results to establish parameters of known performance.

In most groups there will be a performance curve,meaning some people are stars while others struggle.

As an example, a job performed by several employees with similar yet not identical responsibilities can be used for comparison purposes.

The results of the assessments will show a distinct pattern of those qualities and management can then design a template modeled on the most successful employees.

Importantly, management is not relying on anyone else's data; the results are from their existing employees providing a much more valid sample.

Unfortunately, none of these systems is perfect.

In fact, it is generally recommended that assessments not be weighted any more than one-third of the final hiring decision.

They should be viewed as a tool in the hiring process that can effectively complement a well thought out job description to help companies hire people who are a good "job fit." When hiring, there are three things of major importance to consider:

1.

Can the person do the job?

2.

How will the person do the job?

3.Will the person want to do the job? The first consideration is based on skills and is normally the focus of the hiring process.

It can generally be answered through the traditional process of resume, interviews and references.

The second and third questions,"how will the person do the job?" and "will the person want to do the job?" are the two questions that are significantly easier to answer using assessments.

Traits such as objective judgment, manageability, verbal reasoning, attitude, and occupational interests can be measured by assessments and make a real difference in ultimately determining 'job fit.' It's easy to confuse someone wanting a job and someone wanting to do a job.

An individual can want a job for money, status, security or any number of reasons that have nothing to do with liking what he or she will be doing in that job.

A perfect "job fit" translates into an individual who possesses the right skills, behaves in a manner that is appropriate for the job and the company culture, and really wants to do the work.

If you can achieve job fit you'll win every time.

Shane Gorman is a management consultant living in Reno.

He can be reached at 851-3688 or shane@sgorman.com.