Can They and Will They in This Environment with Our People
What makes hiring so difficult? We are each individuals and there is no such thing as one for one substitution. The question that has to be asked about each individual is “Can they do the job? Will they do the job?” If the answer is yes, you still have to ask, “Can and Will they in this environment with our people.” The can part is the easy part. Will they is harder to answer. In this environment with our people is hardest of all. Unfortunately, the best of us is unlikely to score better that 50/50 when it comes to the hiring process. But the job of picking the people who will do the job in this environment with our people is so important that it calls for investing in the process. There should be multiple face-to-face interviews involving multiple people in the organization. Use of professional personality testing and systems that predict success should be a standard practice.
The first step in the process for filling any job is that you have to know what you are looking forEvery job has a picture—it requires a certain prerequisite KASH and there are traits even including appearance and lifestyle that are best suited for success in the particular job environment.
When it comes to management positions, most companies consider three choices for filling the job. There is the best mechanic and the logical choice within one’s own organization, and then there is the unknown candidate who can come from either inside or outside of the organization. Because one is the best mechanic doesn’t mean they have the skills required for the management position. Usually the best salesman, for example, doesn’t make the best sales manager. The typical advice is to keep your best salesperson selling. Put them into a job they are not qualified for and everyone loses. You lose your top salesperson and gain a poor sales manager. The rest of your sales team loses under poor leadership. Eventually you will have to terminate the poor manager, or they will voluntarily leave to return to what they like and do best. Perhaps even worse is the logical choice decision. Just because someone’s seniority makes them next in line is no way to select the best candidate for the job. The only right way is to select the best fit of the choices available. The excellent manager must pick the candidate best matching the success-orientated job’s picture. Look internally and also look outside the organization. Remember “A” level people want to work with “A” level people.
I emphasize the importance of using technology and making the investment in systems that test and provide you with predictions regarding the fit of candidates in your environment and with your people. But face-to-face interviews are still an essential part of the process. Interview questions should be "Why" centered. Why the past history? Why the present situation? Why the future aspirations or objectives? Past, present, and future aspirations are predictors of the future but only if the answers to the question “why” are in harmony with the job requirements. The fact that a candidate had a paper route as a youth has a different implication, for example, if they did so only because a parent insisted.
The success-oriented company doesn’t wait for job candidates to come to them. They find them. Determine the best fit and sell the job to the selected candidate. The concept of selling the job is important. In all sales, the buyer must understand how the benefits will enable him to achieve his objectives, and they must understand the price to be paid. Satisfied customers are not oversold or misled as to features or price. The same holds true in making the job sale.
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Mysteries by Tom Collins include Mark Rollins’ New Career, Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, and Mark Rollins and the Puppeteer and the newest, The Claret Murders. For signed copies go to http://store.markrollinsadventures.com. Ebook editions are available on Amazon for the Kindle, on Barnes & Noble for the Nook and in Apple iTunes' iBookstore for the iPad. Paperback editions are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online bookstores.