The Metiss Group's Blog

Two IT managers need to make a hire.  Both are looking for a developer with three to five years experience coding in the current hot programming language.

One manager focuses on hard skills – he wants someone with this difficult to find skill who will be productive as soon as they are hired.  The manager hires a search firm and after six months finds the “ideal” person but needs to pay $100,000 and a $30,000 search fee.  The new hire, though technically sound is an okay culture fit and contributes shortly after being hired. Two years later, the difficult to find, “ideal” hire leaves the organization relieving the manager of a departmental headache.   That’s okay because the once coveted skill set is now obsolete.

The other manager within one month hires a person from a LinkedIn ad with little experience but who’s smart, energetic, and a great culture fit.  He pays the new hire $65,000 and trains them for six months.  Seven months after being hired, the same timeframe as the other manager, the employee is contributing.  Two years later this hire is a key member of the team and a superstar programmer adapting to new technologies and continuously honing their skills.

From the time they started their search, it took both managers seven months for their new hire to be productive.  Yet the manager focusing on the soft skills paid much less, found a better match, and still has a high-potential working for them.  Unfortunately, most hiring managers fall into the trap of hiring for hard skills.

Empower your hiring managers to hire for soft skills and you will be more successful in the long run.

Here are a few questions from an assessment a hiring manager used to evaluate a candidate:

     What is your favorite color? red / blue / green / black / yellow

     What pet are you most like? dog / cat / reptile / fish / rock

     What tree best describes you? maple / magnolia / pine / oak / citrus

Apparently the results of this questionnaire are supposed to describe one’s personality and help managers determine whether or not someone is a good fit for an organization.  Sadly, some hiring managers use this tool and, more concerning, some actually act on the results.

Assessment tools are becoming more and more common in the hiring process.  Unfortunately, poorly designed and misleading assessments also are becoming more common.  When evaluating assessment instruments consider the following:

• Time to complete – don’t let a too lengthly questionnaire discourage candidates; very short questionnaires often are not comprehensive enough
• Multi-dimensional – a good assessment should evaluate multiple aspects of human behaviors (personality, motivations, skill sets)
• Reliable and valid – the assessment must measure what it is intended to evaluate with reasonable accuracy
• Tied to job requirements – the assessment should measure characteristics required for a job
• Expert interpretation – a good assessment requires certified interpretation
• Invest $300 to $2,500 – the investment for quality assessments and interpretations varies but the adage “you get what you pay for” certainly applies

Empower your hiring managers with quality assessments and they will make more successful hires.

According to us.gov the top five New Year’s Resolutions are:

1. Lose weight
2. Volunteer to help others
3. Quit smoking
4. Learn more
5. Get a better job

With sixty-percent of hiring managers expecting an uptick in hiring in the year ahead, now is the best time to start your recruiting efforts — especially since it’s one of the top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for potential applicants!  January is the best month to reach passive candidates capitalizing on their New Year’s resolutions.  Often, these newly resigned job seekers will begin searching for new positions that first week in January even before they have their resumes prepared.

Whether or not you have an immediate need, identifying superstars when they are emotionally committed to change jobs and courting them until you have a spot for them is a strategy that will give you a long-term competitive edge.  We’ve all learned the hard way that waiting until you have an opening is too late to begin searching for just the right person.  Granted, there is some effort required to keep the candidate engaged as the year progresses, but that’s nothing like the effort required to find someone out of thin air once an opening occurs.

As the holidays are upon us, so are lots of gatherings with people looking for safe topics of conversation.  Use the time wisely by preparing a little pitch you or your direct reports can use to describe the culture of your organization and the pros of working there.  When people begin to search for positions, they’ll start by thinking about the type of place they’d like to work — let one of those places that come to mind be yours.

Empower your direct reports to plant seeds of candidate sourcing now, so they can reap the benefits when you need to actively hire but don’t want to settle for any warm body.

Imagine your organization needs to make a $50,000 capital expenditure (equipment, IT, renovations).  Before making the investment, what actions might your team make?  Would the team gather with an objective expert to discuss the specifications needed?  Would you talk to several suppliers and assess various options?  Would you talk to references from the supplier to determine if they are trustworthy?  Would you make further purchases (insurance, warranties, training) after delivery to protect and maximize the investment?

Most leaders would answer “of course, $50,000 is a lot of money and we don’t want to make a mistake.”  Why is it then that hiring managers don’t put forth as much effort when making a $50,000 hire?

Before making a hire, leaders should gather the job’s stakeholders to determine what is needed from the role and the type of person who fits best.  Hiring managers should interview and assess several candidates.  Hiring managers should talk to candidate references to make sure they are the right fit.  Hiring managers should also invest in new hire training to ensure the new hire’s success.

And, unlike a capital expenditure, a talent investment will appreciate over time.

Empower your team to treat your people investments with the same diligence as capital investments and you’ll experience more success.