Here it is, the beginning of another new year and the perfect time to make sure you are setting yourself up for success in 2018. If you manage people, one of the best ways you can do this is to ensure that you have a strong talent bank — even if you do not plan on making a single hire.
A strong talent bank allows you to set the bar high for your team, hold people accountable to meeting expectations, and move forward without missing a beat if one of your people chooses to leave.
Here Are 5 Pro Tips for Strong Recruitment and Selection in 2018:
- Start by making list of the specific talents, skills, and experiences that a person would need to have in order to be successful on your team. Make it like you would a shopping list for the grocery store — write down the must-have qualities that you feel are non-negotiable like the ability to build rapport or negotiate tough rates. This list will serve as a clear measuring stick to compare your candidates against.
- Consider the resume as only one of many resources you have available during your selection process and don’t put too much stock in it. A survey from The Society of Human Resource Managers reported that 53% of resumes contain untruths and misleading statements. While a resume should give you a feel for whether or not someone might be worth talking to, that’s likely where its value ends. After this initial step, make sure you dig a bit more, checking them out on social media and talking with each one of their references.
- When interviewing, fight the urge to do all of the talking yourself, selling the candidate on your company or sharing your own experiences. Instead, listen carefully and do the necessary detective work to uncover potential talents and understand their likely fit for the position. Select a handful of strong, open-ended questions that you will use consistently with each candidate to better understand them and how they might fit with your company, team, and management style. These Fit Interview questions will give you a clear picture of what you can expect in the future since people are “wired” at a very early age and their behaviors rarely changes over time.
- Use a scientific talent instrument to identify the true innate talents of your candidate so that your “glare” won’t get in the way of a good selection decision. If you make a strong initial connection with a candidate, it’s hard to look at their strengths and weaknesses in an impartial way. If your personalities just “click,” you like the way they dress, you share the same hobby, or find you attended the same university, it can be nearly impossible to be completely unbiased. When selecting the right talent instrument, make sure to use a validated assessment that allows you to compare the candidate’s innate behaviors with those of top performers in the industry so you know how they are likely to measure up.
- Lose sleep before you hire, not after. There is very little to enjoy when filling an open position; it is a lot of work to do it right and it can feel nearly impossible if you are also trying to cover the job responsibilities of that open position at the same time. But, the time spent ensuring that the talent and fit of a new hire is a good match is invaluable. And it will save you countless hours and dollars down the road.
Without a strong talent bank and an equally strong recruitment and selection process, it can be nearly impossible to grow business in the coming year. Take a few moments now to make sure you have what you need to recruit and select the very best talent on the market. If you have any questions or want to talk through your plan, give us a call.