TM - November 2007 - (Page 22)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning [recruitment & retention]by Steven T. Hunt, Ph.D. Finding Candidates with the Right Fit About 20 percent of hiring decisions made for salaried jobs end in failure. Failure rates for hourly jobs are even worse, frequently reaching levels of 50 percent or more, according to recent research by Kronos Inc. It is astonishing companies tolerate these failure rates, given the costs associated with poor job performance and staff turnover. It is even more surprising because everyone in the staffing process has a vested interest in making the best hires possible. Hiring managers directly benefit from hiring good employees and bear much of the pain and frustration that result from hiring the wrong person. Recruiters’ reputations are made (or broken) based on the quality of candidates they find for their clients. Even candidates recognize it is rarely in their best interest to be hired for jobs they are ill-suited to perform. Given that everyone from the CEO to the prospective employee has an interest in making effective staffing decisions, why do companies make so many poor hires? Two of the top reasons are that companies oversimplify what successful job performance looks like, and as a result, they hire candidates based on the wrong criteria. Second, hiring decision makers do not effectively use staffing assessment tools to evaluate candidates. Job Success is Mul tidimensional candidates’ myriad characteristics with the myriad demands of the job. Despite this multidimensionality, companies often treat candidates as though they can be placed along a single dimension, ranging from best to worst. This results in overemphasizing certain candidate characteristics while downplaying or overlooking others. The only way to avoid this problem is to define what behaviors drive successful job performance before you begin sourcing and selecting candidates. This requires getting hiring managers to carefully describe the different ways an employee might succeed or fail in the job. Hiring managers frequently struggle when asked to describe what candidates actually will need to do to be successful in a job. Rather than defining what behaviors are critical for job success, they rattle off generic platitudes about good performance such as being “a passionate, service-oriented, team player.” These things sound good, but they tell us nothing about what people actually need to do to be successful. What does it mean to be passionate? Is there romance involved? To address this problem, integrate structured job analysis or competency modeling tools into the staffing process. These tools walk hiring managers through specific steps to define the dimensions of performance that drive success. If you do not have access to such tools, use the following simple method to uncover different job performance dimensions: 1. Have hiring managers list eight to 10 people they know who work or have worked in jobs or environments similar to the one being staffed. The list should include both more- and less-successful performers. Imagine you hired a salesperson who consistently exceeded his quota but also treated co-workers with contempt and rarely did anything for the company unless it directly benefited him. Is this person a good or bad hire? Your answer will depend on how much you value different dimensions of job performance. When hiring people, it is critical to remember there is no such thing as a good or bad candidate, in a general sense. People are not just good or bad — they are good or bad at doing certain things. Both jobs and people are multidimensional. The challenge of hiring is matching 22 November 2007 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - November 2007

Talent Management - November 2007 Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Viewpoint Finding Candidates with the Right Fit Turning HR Data Into Business Intelligence Compensation Technology: Drive Higher Performance, Gain Competitive Advantage The Art and Science of Influence Training the Ethical Workforce Making the Best Managers Application: Pre-Hire Testing Drives Down Employee Turnover at Advnace Auto Parts Dashboard: The Role of Learning Business Process Outsourcing Insight: Nationwide Insurance: On Employees' Side Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

TM - November 2007

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