Don’t Start A Search Without A Compass – A Strategic Process for Hiring Staff

When was the last time you worked for months to fill an open position only to give up because you couldn’t find anyone worth hiring — thought you had found that perfect new hire only to have the individual move on or “flunk out” during training — had that ideal new hire move on to a position in another company where they could earn twice as much money while doing half the work? Have you ever had to sit with open positions for months or even years because you couldn’t find any suitable candidates? If so, you are not alone.

A survey done by The Aberdeen Group found that Best in Class Organizations (those that show high manager satisfaction, high retention rates, and high performance) have developed and implemented a strategic process for talent acquisition. This process can include a variety of components, like assessments, skill testing, and more depending on the position.

When it comes to talent acquisition, Aberdeen defined “Best in Class” as those companies who have achieved:

• A 1st year retention rate of 94% or above
• 80% or more of employees who exceed performance standards
• Year-over-year improvement in hiring management satisfaction

The use of assessments in the workplace is greater than ever before; coupled with technology, assessments are even easier to access and more widely available, making them an essential tool in any talent management process.

You should take a minute to reflect – is your organization falling into “Best In Class” or is there room for improvement in one or more of these areas? Are you able to retain your new hires? Have your last five hires met your expectations in regard to performance? Is management proud of the accomplishments of their most recent staff additions? If you (or your organization) are not where you want to be – what does it take to get there?

Clearly there are a number of factors that go into making a good organization great – but as Jim Collins stated, getting the” right people on the bus” is paramount. The Aberdeen research indicates that organizations who were able to achieve “Best in Class” performance have utilized recruiting systems and pre-hire assessment data to identify candidates whose scores would suggest that they would have both organizational fit and performance potential. They state “assessments have evolved into a critical element for a successful talent strategy.” Based upon the Aberdeen Group survey research, those organizations who are able to achieve “Best In Class” have:

• A clearly defined process to assess candidates and applicants
• HR and line of business management collaboration to ensure that assessment content addresses business needs
• Support and buy-in for assessment from senior executives and organizational leadership
• Hiring managers who are trained to use the output of assessments

Reveal’s intuitive assessment tool helps to align and improve your talent management process by ensuring speed and quality of decision-making using the easy-to-read report, subsequent productivity when coaching and guiding employees, and long tenure.

The Reveal assessment helps businesses discover, select, promote, and hire the right talent to build a succinct and well-harmonized team and organization.

• Supported by 50 years of Research and Development, candidates are assessed using a strategic medley of up to six tests, making this talent assessment tool the most well-rounded on the market. Once tests are completed, a candidate’s profile report includes job-specific competency results, and candidate strengths and potential limitations.
• Powerful candidate distillation, presented in a simple and beautifully designed report – Simplicity at your fingertips.
• An excellent talent assessment tool that makes it easy for the hiring manager to select, customize, and send out invites.
• Easy-to-use application with an intuitive administrative dashboard to help you track candidates through the process.
• Targeted psychological assessments that help to drive better decision-making, allowing the hiring manager to easily assess human potential and place the right team members; freeing up valuable time and money to focus on other initiatives.
• Visually meaningful hiring indicators that illuminate the strengths and limitations of your candidate pool. A great pre-employment tool, that helps to guide the interview process.

How can you assemble, maintain, and ultimately grow your perfect team?

Start by developing a clear understanding of the key competencies that will be critical to the success of the candidate. A strategic talent acquisition process should be able to provide a clear picture of the performance expected of any individual in a form that is usable to identify and qualify a pool of candidates for a specific organizational position.

Examine the job description. Take the time to sit with your management team to get their views of the criteria that will be important to successful performance in this organization — in this job — in this position. Whether you are the formal “recruiter” or a hiring manager striving to fill your position, make sure you get a thorough understanding of:

• how the position helps the organization to accomplish objectives,
• the goals the organization has set for this position,
• what needs to be accomplished and the time frames for doing so,
• how the organization will measure success, and
• what would be seen as exceptional achievement for this position in the first year — second year — third year.

Reveal uses an intuitive process to capture the key components (characteristics, experiences, attitudes) that decision-makers believe will be important in the position — and then converting these often subjective and difficult to measure “wants” into quantifiable standards to be applied to every candidate. In doing so, we create a set of selection criteria that provides a compass to point the selection committee and the recruiter – to the candidates that stand the best chance of being successful in the role.

Once this “compass” has been identified, the Reveal application utilizes a number of different avenues to surface the best candidates. As you are probably well aware, you can no longer rely on traditional sourcing. What resources have you used to build your applicant pool?

Build your compass:

• Get agreement by key decision makers on criteria to be used in selection up front.
• Establish how their presence/absence will be judged at each stage in the process.
• Utilize the identified selection criteria to decide who to move into the assessment stage.

Establish a clear picture of the destination:

• Use organization and job analysis to understand the position
• Establish a quantified selection model

Utilize a well-researched vehicle, like Reveal, to help make your decision: