We Found a Rock Star! Hiring the Best of the Best.
Colleagues, I feel your pain on this issue.
Scenario #1: You've got a critical position that needs to be
filled by a qualified candidate, and quick. For every day the
position doesn't get filled, your in-box fills up a bit more
with work to be done because your unfilled position hasn't been
staffed. You see tons of resumes and have interviewed scores of
candidates, but the rock star you're looking for isn't emerging.
You refuse to "settle" for a mediocre candidate, but the work is
piling up and you've got to do something.
Scenario #2: Three months ago you thought you had the perfect
candidate for a job and decided to hire him. You negotiate a
compensation package, relocate the candidate, and do some
internal public relations work with the team. Two months after
the candidate hit the job, you realize that your candidate was a
PURE (previously undetected recruiting error); the candidate had
a major issue with responding to pressure and would become rude
and angry with peers, employees, and customers whenever the heat
was turned up. You're now faced with either making a massive
investment in the person or making a job change. Not a pretty
picture.
Finding the right candidate for a job can be highly frustrating
for both managers and recruiters. If you wait too long, the work
will keep piling up and your management may start thinking you
can get along without the position. Pull the trigger too soon
and you risk hiring a candidate that is a PURE. There are
legitimate situations where it just takes a long time to find a
suitable candidate. You need to minimize the situations where
you either hire the wrong candidate or take forever to find the
right one. Here are some simple techniques to help you find that
rock star for your organization:
Know what you are looking for - Sounds pretty basic, but I have
been amazed at how frequently managers dust off a job
description that hasn't been changed in years to use as the
basis for hiring a new employee. Hiring to an out-dated job
description can lead to ineffective resume screening and
poor-fit candidates. Give the job description a good working
over and ensure the skills documented in the job description
accurately reflect what you're looking for.
Use multiple interviewers who can focus on different skills -
Based on the job description, your candidate may need a
combination of functional, technical, leadership, and people
skills. A candidate who may be a technical wiz may also have the
people skills of a head of lettuce. Use trusted interviewers who
have expertise in each area of focus and ask them to drill the
candidate for their respective area to ensure the total skills
package is there.
Look beyond the obvious - One of my best hires several years
back didn't meet the stereotypical requirements of the job, but
had some outstanding core skills that were easily translatable
to the new job. Had I stuck with my mental image of what I was
looking for, I would have rejected the candidate during the
resume screening process. If your job for a procurement analyst
requires strong analytical skills, consider looking at
candidates from other functional disciplines, i.e. finance, to
fill the role. I've continually been amazed the number of times
"out-of-the-box" candidates have become rock stars. Don't limit
yourself to candidates with stereotypical requirements.
Get a glimpse into critical thinking skills - OK, so you've
probably heard about the "why are manhole-covers round" type of
questions and may be chuckling at the prospect of asking a
candidate such an off-the-wall question. The truth is,
critical-thinking questions are a great way to understand how a
candidate thinks through problems, how they respond to pressure,
and how quick-on-their-feet they can be. I've changed my hiring
decision (both ways) based upon the critical question I asked
during the interview. A great approach to this is to think about
your own business and create some hypothetical questions, i.e.
if you're an automobile manufacturer ask the candidate how they
would design a car that gets 200 miles per gallon. Think about
the "tough questions" you can ask and observe your candidate as
they wrestle with their response.
Get a hundred-day plan from the candidate - Wondering what a
candidate would do when they land on your doorstep? Ask them!
During your final selection process, ask each of your candidates
to put together a hundred-day plan of what they are going to get
accomplished during their first hundred days on the job. This
technique is very effective in assessing how a candidate will
take the ideals discussed during the interview process and put
them to action if they were to be hired.
Give peers and candidate's prospective employees a voice - A key
aspect of a candidate's fit potential is how they will get along
with peers and, if the candidate will be managing people, his or
her prospective employees. You may have a functional and
technical maestro but if he doesn't have the teaming or
collaboration skills you might be creating a mess for yourself
and the team. Just be cautious to get a cross-section of
opinions; you don't want to base team chemistry decisions on
just one person's viewpoint.
The rock stars are out there and can be delivering value in your
organization; just make sure you keep focus on some of these
basic hiring strategies and you'll get the best of the best
driving results for you.