Selecting the Right Talent for your business

As a business leader, who you hire is one of the most important decisions you will ever make.

Hire the right person, and you have an ally, hire the wrong person and you have someone who creates challenges from not producing to creating morale issues amongst the team.

How then do you make the best hiring decision when every candidate tells you what they think you want to hear?

The key is: a structured approach focused on understanding WHAT you need, identifying WHO has that talent and hiring ONLY when you find the right person no matter how long it takes!

Clearly define your expectations of performance and NOT a list of tasks!

This should include:
- The Purpose of the Role - for a Sales and Marketing Manager, it may be to "Increase market share and grow revenue through innovative marketing strategies and effective sales techniques."
- Required Results or Outcomes - this could be Double revenue within 18 months. This approach also indicates to candidates, the organisation's culture which focuses on productivity!
- Technical Competencies for the role and those which reflect the culture of the company (Behavioural Competencies).
  
  A technically competent Sales Manager or Engineer who is not working well with others, should be assessed against the company's defined Behavioural Competency around Team Work.
Selection Process
- Use Structured Interviews with the right questions to identify candidates whose:
  - Career goals and passions are aligned to the role.
  - Accomplishments reflect the technical competencies of the role.
  - Values and behaviours reflect those of the organisation.
  Avoid pitfalls such as: asking leading or open-ended questions; talking more than listening; accepting responses without probing for details etc.
- Reference Checks & where needed, Psychometric Assessments
  References are essential for validating the information shared by the candidate as well as your assessment as the interviewer. This step should NEVER be omitted.
  Listen to both what IS and what is NOT said. A referee's hesitations in responding and noncommittal, evasive or lukewarm responses speak volumes!
Remember do not settle!

Author

Tamara Pooran

Tamara Pooran has more than thirty (30) years' Human Resources experience having worked in the Financial Services, Petrochemical, Manufacturing, Health Care, IT and Media Services sectors.

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