Hiring: Like Finding A Needle In A Haystack

“Finding good people is still like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s just that these days the haystack is bigger.” That’s how one manager describes the hunt for people who have the abilities necessary to succeed in her organization. It’s not uncommon to get over a hundred applicants for one opening. The challenge is to create a screening process that will identify candidates with the abilities, skills and traits that match the position requirements. There are a number of factors involved in developing an effective candidate screening process. We’ll take a look at three: Clearly defining the technical and behavioral competencies required for the position; developing a list of deeply probing behavior based interview questions built on the competencies needed for the position; and using valid, reliable assessment tools that accurately describe the candidate’s skills, abilities and traits.

A working definition of competencies is “A set of interrelated abilities and behaviors that empower successful performance.” As an example, teamwork is important in most positions. However, teamwork is not just one thing a person does, it’s many things. And the definition of teamwork may vary from one organization to another, depending on the work setting and culture. What are the specific behaviors that are recognized in your organization as good teamwork? The first step is to define these behaviors so you know exactly what you are looking for when you interview. Every candidate is going to assure you he is a great team player, and in his own eyes, he’s making an honest statement, but what is he really telling you? Does his idea of good teamwork match yours?

On the technical side, Troubleshooting is an example of a very complex competency. On the shop floor, troubleshooting mechanical or electrical problems requires high level abilities, as it does in IT and also in Accounting. Each one of those settings, though, requires different skill sets. The more accurately you can describe the skills needed for a position, the easier it will become to identify them in applicants you are interviewing.

If you can establish a basic set of 8 to 12 Technical and Behavioral competencies for a position, you will have a solid yardstick for your screening process, and a useful tool for coaching and evaluating performance as well. A list for a call center position might include Use of Technology, Call Reporting, Product Knowledge, Telephone Skills, Active Listening, Verbal Communication, Stress Tolerance,
Customer Focus, Handling of Difficult Calls, and Goal Achievement. The definitions of these would vary to match the organization and types of calls being handled. Each job and each organization is unique.

Once the list of basic competencies has been determined, developing behavior-based questions is fairly easy. For example, if demonstrating patience in stressful situations is one of the traits you are looking for, try a something like, “Describe a difficult situation in your last job that really tested you patience.” If the response is, “Waiting for the change machine in the lunch room,” you may not have the person you are looking for.

Properly used, assessments are a valuable component to the hiring process. Select an assessment that is well researched to validate that it actually does what it claims to. Do screening interviews and only use assessments with the final candidates for the position. Never use an assessment alone to screen out a candidate. This is unethical, and can create potential liability for the organization. Use the assessment to create a laser list of second interview questions by using the competency profile for the position as a benchmark. Review the candidate’s assessment report, compare it to the competency profile and do a gap analysis. Design your interview questions around the gaps, and listen for the candidate’s answers. The issue is not whether the candidate has some weaker areas compared to the behavioral skills you’re looking for. Of course she does, she’s human. What matters is whether she is aware of them, is working on them, and how successful she has been at improving in those areas.

Suppose a candidate for a supervisory position is predicted to have a tendency to avoid conflict and to have difficulty confronting others. Try behavior-based questions such as:

Describe a situation where you talked to an employee about a performance problem.
How long did the performance problem go on before you talked with the employee?
Why did you wait that amount of time to talk to the employee?
What was the outcome? Did the employee improve?
How would you rate your effectiveness and why?
What have you been doing to improve your effectiveness with managing performance problems?

Now you’ll have actual responses from the candidate to use when you make your decision to hire or not to hire. This is fair to the individual, creates better results in the hiring process and less risk for the organization. If you screen out the candidate, it’s not because of what the assessment said, it’s because of what the individual said.

Building your candidate screening process on a foundation of relevant competencies for each position, good behavior-based interview questions and accurate assessment tools will significantly improve your ability to find the needle in the haystack.