Minimizing the Risks That Make Hiring Scary

From the desk of Melanie Sanchez-Jones:

What's the biggest anxiety for any high performing team?

Losing one of their star performers. Why? 

Because great team members are difficult to replace!

At the thought of losing one of your own star performers, perhaps some of these thoughts are racing through your brain: "How do I find someone with the right mix of experience and talent? What can I do to make sure that new person will fit in with the culture of the team? Will they have the same work ethic and passion for achieving success?" 

One of our clients recently faced this very situation. Here's what happened:  

The leadership team had been working together for many years, but -- after undergoing a process for aligning company culture and values -- one executive decided to resign. 

The CEO asked for our help in finding the right person to fill the newly vacant role. He had worked hard to make  sure that leadership styles, policies and public branding reflected the company's values.  Now, he wanted to make sure that whoever joined the leadership team would also fit their culture.

In the past, this organization did what most companies do: they relied on resume roulette and interview intuition TM. 

This time, the CEO didn't want to roll the dice and hope for a win.

Thankfully, we offer just what he needed. Our Job Benchmarking service is a data-driven hiring process that first evaluates the job and then finds the candidate who is the best fit by utilizing scientific assessments. 

Here's how this data-driven process works:

Step 1: Define the Measures for Success

This involves meeting with the primary stakeholders to the job and identifying the key accountabilities for success in the role.  

By creating clarity about the role and defining the measures for success, this initial conversation minimizes future interdepartmental conflicts and significantly increases the likelihood of star performance.  

When I met with the CEO, the VP of Administration, and the VP of Sales and asked about the key accountabilities, one VP replied, "Melanie, this is not a new job; we already know the key accountabilities." 

To which I said, "Great! For my benefit, let's review them." As we started to review, the executives discovered that they didn't agree on the key accountabilities. After open discussion and debate, they finally reached a consensus on the expectations for the job.

Step 2: Create a Job Benchmark 

Stakeholders take an online assessment that generates a profile of the role in 3 different dimensions:

1. The behaviors most needed for the job (communication style)

2. The motivators the job rewards (the fulfillment that comes from doing the work)

3. The skills needed to perform at a superior level 

Step 3: Find the Right Person for the Role

Once we know what the job requires, we focus on finding the candidate who's the best fit for the position. 

Candidates who meet the "must have" job requirements take an online assessment that identifies their behaviors, motivators and skills. Using each candidate's assessment reports, we determine who best matches the job profile.

Then we oversee the interview process to ensure the right questions are asked to understand the candidate's experience. We also guide the candidate to understand why he or she is a great fit with the role and the organization. 

What were the results?

In just 45 days, from the first phone screen to the day the offer was made and accepted, we helped our client hire the right candidate for a key position. Thanks to the job benchmarking process, both the client and the new member of the executive team feel confident in their decision to work together. 

Ready to stop gambling on outdated methods for hiring? 

Call us to learn more about the job benchmarking process. This cutting-edge technology will help you eliminate bias from hiring and promoting decisions, improve retention rates, reduce recruiting costs, and increase employee engagement by putting the right people in the right roles. 

Anyone can fill a job. The hard part is filling the job with the right person. Bring your hiring process into the 21st century so you can feel confident the next time you add a new member to your high performing team!