The Metiss Group's Blog

All good processes begin with some pre-planning and never is that more true than in a selection process.  We suggest getting crystal clear about what you’re looking for in advance to prepare for your interviews.

The most important preparation is identifying the critical activities for that job and how they should be done — giving careful consideration to the traits that will increase the likelihood of an individual’s success in that job.  Here’s the key: you’re identifying the key traits for THAT JOB.

Without careful planning, we may fall into the “I’ll know it when I see it” trap looking for traits we generally admire in people even if they may be detrimental or counterintuitive for the job.  For example, selecting a candidate who is outgoing with an ease for chatting up any topic in the interview may make sense for a sales position, but may be indicative of lacking the focus, attention to detail, and thorough consideration for a quality assurance position.

Empower your interviewers by agreeing in advance on the accountabilities and traits critical to the job for which they are interviewing.  As interviewers, the likelihood of them selecting the best candidate for the position increases significantly as does their buy-in and support of the new employee once selected.

This entry was posted on July 11, 2010 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Leadership, Selection. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.