You want to hire great people, but it’s harder than it sounds. I get it! How are you supposed to know whether your candidate is right for the job?”
Let’s start with how you are screening your candidates. What are you looking at to determine whether they may be right for the job? Even if you don’t have a formal screener, you are currently using something to screen candidates.
Most likely you gather intel from a few different sources, but I bet you lean pretty heavily on their resume. Great start, but be careful. Resumes are notoriously biased, only showing the candidate’s assets.
It won’t help you understand their limitations or weaknesses at all. Also, today’s resumes are built using AI, graphic templates, and professional services, all of which can make even a bad candidate look like a superstar.
Interviews, Resumes, and LinkedIn Profiles All Have Limitations
This may surprise you, but live interviews can also give you a false understanding of an individual’s abilities.
Have you ever interviewed someone who just oozes with charm? A great communicator who is a pleasure to talk with?
Then you know it’s even harder to determine whether you are picking up on their sparkling personality or legitimate talent and ability. The job market is fraught with candidates who are wonderful people and a joy to meet but lack the talent to achieve excellence in the role.
Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and interviews are all important pieces of evidence in the selection process. They will provide both information and additional color you need, but they will not give you enough to make a hiring decision.
The meat and potatoes of your hiring decision must center around “talent” and “fit,” which are both uncovered by a validated talent assessment that is built specifically for the job role you are filling.
You Can't Teach a Fish To Climb a Tree
I’m not talking about a descriptive assessment that will tell you your candidate is organized or relationship-oriented. I’m talking about a predictive assessment that accurately predicts whether or not your candidates have the potential to be top performers within your organization.
The best assessments even provide actionable coaching strategies to maximize performance if you choose to bring them on board in the future, so you know exactly what to expect.
Remember, successful performance is built on the foundation of talents, skills, and experience.
- You can train people to develop the skills they need for the job, like using your CRM.
- You can give people any experience they are lacking through practice and coaching.
- But you can’t give someone an innate strength they don’t have. (As I often remind myself, you can’t teach a fish to climb a tree.)
We are hard-wired from a very young age with a defined set of innate strengths and weaknesses, and when you put someone in a job role that calls on their strengths all the time, they are happier and more successful. You just have to know what those strengths are and whether they align with the job!
What Happens When You Use a Validated Talent Assessment
Commit to using a validated talent assessment for every job you fill, and you will find that you:
- Better understand your candidate's strengths and weaknesses
- Effectively put the right people in the right roles and give them responsibilities that are in their wheelhouse
- Have a clear picture of the training and coaching they will need from you
- Go in with your eyes wide open
- Reduce turnover
- Improve employee engagement
- Grow each person you hire to reach their potential
- Increase productivity and performance
In the end, hiring isn’t just about filling a position; it’s about building a future. By leveraging a validated talent assessment, you’re taking the guesswork out of a very tricky process and investing in both the long-term success of your people and your organization.
