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People Power INFORMATION FOR ACTION
Job Fit or... Misfit? by TED SZANIAWSKI
Do you ever find yourself asking . . .“What’s the problem with Harry”? You liked him when you interviewed and hired him, but now, not so much. He gets his job done, sort of, but he’s created a trail of performance issues and the other workers complain about him. Bottom Line: He’s a misfit . . . he lacks what we call good “Job Fit” . . . and it’s a common problem. To be a successful you must seek better ways to select top talent . . . avoid the “Harrys” who applied. So, how can you discover the specific talents required by a job and match them to the personal talents of candidates? The short answer is: Add “science” to the “art” selecting new hires! First, you have to fully understand the job and only the job has the answer to what is required for optimum performance. So, let the job talk . . . and listen carefully!! The process of listening to the job is called benchmarking and it’s a process removes common biases that are associated with the hiring process. Benchmarking replaces the “I’ll know a good one when I see one” with a structured . . . scientific . . . approach to understanding a job. Benchmarking utilizes an assessment that can quickly determine such things as the behaviors, values, motivators and skills required for superior performance. Companion assessments can then be used to compare candidates’ characteristic to those indicated in the job benchmark to determine if good “Job Fit” is evident. While we support the use of assessment tools to evaluate both jobs and candidates, we don’t believe that selection decisions should ever be all “science” and no “art”. There’s a place for both science and art and we highly recommend the One Third Rule:
1/3
Job Benchmarking Applicant & Screening Process Review of Education/Experience/Proven Skills
1/3
Background Checks/References Pre-Employment Tests/Assessments Structured Interviews
1/3
Check for “Fit” with Company Culture Compatibility with Work Teams Confidence that this will be a “Good Hire”
The heck with all the other Harry’s out there --- let your competition have them. Begin to treat candidate selection like any other business endeavor --- gather pertinent information, plan ahead and structure a process based on methodical evaluation of the job and of each candidate Add science to the art of selection.
TED SZANIAWSKI is the principal of HRGroup, LLC. He can be reached at ted@hrgrouponline.com Learn more at: www.hrgrouponline.com
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PrecisionNews
arizonatooling.org
march/april 2012