The human resource is undoubtedly the most expensive asset of any growing organisation. Decisions made at the hiring and promoting stages can have a lasting impact on the success of the individuals, on their teams and colleagues, and on the results of the organisation overall. Yet most line managers involved in selection decisions have little or no formal training in the relevant processes or the skills needed.

Getting to the heart of the needs and requirements of the role itself, as opposed to the characteristics of the ‘best person’ to fill it, is the starting point for guiding managers to a clear picture of the role they are seeking to fill. Avoiding the traps of ambiguity and recruiting in one’s own image requires a focused and un-biased evaluation of the commercial and business needs to be fulfilled.

Potential candidates for posts are often more proficient in the art of being interviewed than those conducting the interviews and, as a result, many decisions are based on the performance at interview rather than the quality of evidence of competency extracted by the interviewer.

Objective criteria and thorough, robust assessment tools are the key to reducing the risk of hiring the wrong candidate and thus avoiding a negative impact on the morale of the team and co-workers, not to mention saving the management time it takes to deal with under-performance and corrective actions.

Effective assessment of potential applicants, using valid tools and techniques, can reduce the costs of recruitment and the risk of wrong decisions. Developing the skills of line managers and internal recruiters to correctly identify objective evidence and to test and retest their decisions from different angles will safeguard the future return on investment of selection decisions.

It’s all about identifying what’s required and then using the right tools to assess that candidates possess what’s needed to meet the challenges of the roles available now and in future.

Three steps to success

• Clear definition of requirements and criteria for success
• A thorough, robust assessment process
• Objective review of evidence obtained… and sound decision-making

How can we help you?

It depends on your precise situation, of course, but ways in which we can help include:

• Creating clear specifications for roles, supported by the required criteria for selection.
• Devising a structured assessment approach tailored to the competencies needed for success in the roles on offer, perhaps including personality profiling, in-tray exercises, group assessment events, etc.
• Coaching managers, team leaders and recruiters on the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to make the right decisions when selecting or promoting candidates.

Our thanks to Jocelyn for writing this page.