Although many companies acknowledge the importance of finding and selecting the right people, they often set themselves up to fail by not having good hiring practices in place. Businesses spend huge amounts on research and development, marketing, computer systems, etc. and yet will cut corners in the one area that assures the long-term success of their company - having the right people on board.

Research shows that two thirds of hiring decisions are ineffective due to newly recruited employees not being fully capable or sufficiently motivated to do the job they are recruited to do. We then expect managers to train and develop these employees to make them 'productive', when recruiting the right person in the first place would be the solution to all of these productivity problems.

Companies often make recruitment decisions based on very little substantive data. They may rely on intuition, a traditional interview, a flashy CV or a persuasive decision maker. Somehow the fact that effective hiring for key positions will affect the future economic viability of the organisation is not truly considered nor recognised.

There are three essentials to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the recruitment process:

• Competency Modelling
• Effective Interviewing Process and Techniques
• Comprehensive Candidate Assessment

Typically companies utilise one or perhaps two of these tools but very few use all three and yet all three are vital to making the right selection decisions.

Some Things to Consider Before the Recruitment Process Begins:

1. What are the primary reasons for this position being filled - problem team, new position, strategic thinker, solving a retention problem, technical expertise, etc
2. Who will the new employee report to, what are the hiring managers' styles, competencies, special needs and expectations?
3. What are the important characteristics of the business culture; team oriented, fast paced, entrepreneurial, technology driven, etc.
4. Uniqueness of the geographic area and community (culture, climate, city vs. rural).
5. In what period of time are you expecting the new employee to make an impact? How will you measure this?
6. Do you need industry experience or do you have time to develop someone with the right set of competencies?
7. Who are the co-workers of the new employee and what are they like; matching a new employee with the existing team or group is critical.

Competency Modeling

Once the decision has been reached to fill a position in the company, the next step is to determine the actual core competencies necessary for success in this position. Actual core competencies go beyond the job description by clearly describing the unique and special requirements of the position and the behaviours and cultures required by candidates to 'fit in' successfully.

Generally speaking, the Core Competencies are developed from an examination of the following categories:

1)   Abilities and Aptitudes
2)   Knowledge and Experience
3)   Personal Profile
4)   Motivational Qualities
5)   Professional and Personal Values
6)   Emotional Intelligence

Effective Interviewing Techniques


Although there are many different types of interviewing styles and techniques, the goals and objectives are the same. That is, to evaluate as accurately possible the candidate's qualifications and 'fit' for the job as compared to the competency profile.

A thorough assessment of the above categories will provide the interviewer with sufficient data to make an informed decision.

Un-trained interviewers are often too subjective in assessing a candidate and research shows us that interviewers have a natural bias to select people like themselves. Most common mistakes made by unskilled interviewers include:

Not accepting the interview as a two way process.

• Talking too much and not listening enough.
• Jumping to conclusions.
• Failure to translate data about past behaviour into on-the-job performance predictions

An effective interviewer should:

• Create a relaxed environment, which enables the candidate to present him/herself in the best light.
• Gain valuable insights from the candidate's personal and professional history.
• Make important observations from the face-to-face meeting.

The six key factors listed above that account for job success should be thoroughly explored in the interview process. Neglecting any one of these areas can lead to a flawed hiring decision.

Comprehensive Candidate Assessment

The use of assessments for recruiting has grown dramatically among companies during the last ten years and rightly so.

The reasons for using psychological and various career tests as part of the pre-hire decision are very compelling: a psychological consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts conducted three follow-up studies of executives it had assessed for their corporate clients. All three studies found that the higher the executives had rated in the evaluations the less likely they were to have terminated employment - either voluntarily or involuntarily.

The survey also showed that a complete assessment process (testing plus comprehensive interview) outperforms all other methods of evaluating candidates. Finally, the survey also revealed that testing is the most accurate method of determining if a candidate will do well in that company's corporate culture. And lack of fit with a particular culture is one of the primary reasons new employees leave.

Why Testing:

• Provides hard data such as the candidate's analytical, conceptual, verbal and numerical abilities.
• Provides a profile of the candidate's traits, attributes, temperament and various personal characteristics.
• Provides a profile of the candidate's underlying needs and motives - 'what drives their behaviour'.
• Rigorous testing lowers the candidate's defences and increases the likelihood of getting an honest response.
• Provides a profile of the Candidate's emotional intelligence.
• Provides information to assess the candidate's leadership style, management profile, etc.