Hiring for Talent: the fundamental 'basic'
when it comes to people, an organization's most costly
and valuable resource
How many times have you left an interview and felt elated that
you'd found just the 'right' person for the position open in operations?
Not only that, but his or her degree was in the right field and
the past two positions listed on the resume indicated he or she
was performing a very similar set of skills and responsibilities…just
what we need in our organization!
You make the candidate a job offer… he or she accepts…
and come to work.
Two months later, you, their manager, wake up at 3:00 am in a cold
sweat and realize the person you hired — with all the right
credentials and the one who made you feel so good during the interview
with the right answers to your questions — is simply not the
same person you've experienced the past several weeks. More importantly,
he or she is going to show up at 8:00 am this morning and still
not be able to perform at or near the level you believed they could!
This scenario is repeated daily in thousands of organizations.
The result: a cost of millions of dollars in nonproductive people,
unfinished tasks, pushed back deadlines, unhappy customers, and
accounting ledgers that just never seems to balance. Why? The answer
often comes from the fact organizations today still hire like they
did decades ago: the 'gut feel' of the interviewer, based primarily
on the resume and interview, that this is the 'right' person.
Is that wrong? No, not really. But when the resume and interview
are used, these two tools need to have a focus on talent, not skill.
Hiring — and then managing — people for their 'natural'
talents and strengths, instead of hiring them for their 'teachable'
skills and those skills they've acquired in the past is key to an
increased bottom-line…and happier and more productive employees.
An organization can teach just about any task needed in the workplace,
such as how to use a keyboard or turn a widget. What organizations
can't teach is how to use the keyboard fast (or slowly) and accurately,
or how to turn the widget with precision at exactly the right time.
Likewise, it's often difficult to gauge a person's innate ability
to sell. What organizations typically look for here is product knowledge,
when in fact it's assertiveness and a willingness to meet strangers
naturally that typically sell products or services; they can learn
about the product's specifics as they sell.
Once employed, motivating and managing people day-to-day —
by providing an environment where their talents can flourish —
are also crucial. Ensuring negative environments are kept to a minimum
produces a powerful force for most people, since a negative environment
can diminish or negate a number of key positive motivators.
So, another basic in today's organization, and to have in one's
'quiver of arrows,' is any of a number of business-focused personal
assessments that will accurately provide the hiring manager a look
at talents, strengths, and expected behaviors in the workplace.
Issues that are usually addressed by a viable and valid tool include
communications, leadership, decision-making, productivity, attention
to detail, motivators and negative environments, among others. These
attributes can't be taught in the classroom… they're naturally
in each person, though to a very significantly different degree.
Therefore, looking at a resume and a series of credentials and
hearing what the candidate wants to tell you in the interview are
OK, it's just not the wisest and surest method to bring talented
people into your organization today. And remember, people are the
organization's most costly and valuable resource.
Give me a naturally talented person any day; we'll teach him or
her what we want them to know.
"People don't change that much.
Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in.
That is hard enough."
—
First, Break All the Rules
Bob Largent, SPHR
HR MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, LLC.
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