I was catching up with a colleague recently who was lamenting the need to replace a senior member of her team, the challenge of getting the right person and the costs involved. As we talked about her challenges, it got me thinking, if recruiting new employees into an organisation is so expensive (by the way I agree that it typically is) then why do so many managers insist in engaging in practices that don’t enable them to identify the best person for the job?
There are many different opinions about the cost of employee turnover, but let’s make an assumption that a typical business will spend the equivalent of about 30% to 50% of an employee’s annual salary on recruiting a new employee. In making this assumption I have taken into account not only direct costs such as advertising, administration and interviewer labour and/or recruitment agency costs, but also potential indirect costs such as induction, training, lost productivity and increased coaching in the first 6 – 12 months of employment. That can be a lot of money.
So how do you ensure that you get the best return on investment for that cost?
Really understand the job you are recruiting for – the nature of the work you are expecting from the role, including future requirements
And I hear you saying ‘but I do understand the job requirements’. My question to you is ‘do you really?’ Not just your current needs, but also the role that you want that position to play in the future? Many people think they do, but when challenged to describe it, would have benefitted from putting a bit more thought into what they actually want or need.
When you have a vacant position, take the opportunity to think about what you want the role to deliver in the short and the long term as it relates to the organisation’s and your own department’s strategic objectives. Is this an opportunity for change? The work required in the future may need to be different than the work of the current incumbent. If so how? What is the specific value you are anticipating that this role will deliver? What are the specific accountabilities of the role and have you given the role the authority required to deliver those accountabilities? What capability does a future incumbent need to be successful?
Use that information to then identify the criteria you will use in your decision making.
Don’t pay lip service to this part of the process. Providing role clarity in a way that ensures that everyone in your business understands what is expected of the role is a key task for a line manager
Outsource the administration aspects of the recruitment process by all means, but not the selection decisions
Think very seriously about letting another person in your organisation or an external provider complete part of the process if they don’t understand your business really well and fully understand the requirements of the role. The success of your team is fundamental to your own success. If you have high expectations from your team do you really want other people making decisions (for example shortlisting) that may prevent you from getting your best person.
If the person completing the shortlist doesn’t have a thorough understanding of the role, how can they truly know who to shortlist? And how do you know they aren’t eliminating one or more of your best applicants? If you can’t participate, ensure that the person who is reviewing your candidates and completing your shortlisting process knows at least as much as you do and ensure that you oversee the process.
When interviewing ask questions that explore real accountabilities and outcomes, and probe for more detail every time
When questioning a candidate, the goal is to identify what unique value that they personally have delivered in their current or previous roles. What was their personal accountability and how well did they deliver it? – not what the team delivered – what they delivered.
Unfortunately, many interviewing approaches ask superficial questions and accept superficial responses. As an example: If recruiting for a project manager some questions that might be asked include:
- What is the largest project you have worked on?
- What project methodology do you use?
- What experience do you have in managing change
In response to those questions a candidate will typically describe the nature of the project, the size of the budget and how it met the project milestones and how it came in on time and on budget, then they might tell you that they are trained in Prince 2 and use the methodology effectively. This response tells you the project was delivered well, but it doesn’t tell you who was actually responsible for achieving the outcome. You also know they have done some Prince 2 training but you don’t really know how well they put that into practice.
I suggest wording the questions slightly differently to get a more in depth understanding of their experience, for example:
- Thinking about one of the larger projects that you have worked on, what specifically were you responsible for delivering? How was your role different to that of the other team members?
- What was your specific contribution to ensuring your last project was delivered on time and on budget (ie what did they actually do, not what the team delivered together)
- Provide me with an example of a project that you weren’t able to deliver to plan as expected. What did you do (or not do) that contributed to that outcome?
- In many projects the way we manage the change process can influence the ultimate project outcomes. Talk to us about what you did in the change management space to ensure success (focus on what they actually did themselves using examples, rather than them describing a process)
Asking questions in this way means that you have a greater chance of hearing what the candidate was accountable for, what they actually did themselves and what value they personally delivered, rather than what someone else in their team delivered, or what should have been done in a best practice environment.
Use multiple sources of information wherever possible
Don’t rely solely on the interview and your gut feel to make decisions about the candidates. Additional sources of information may include psychological assessment, capability analysis such as the MCPA and most importantly reference checking.
Psychological assessment can provide you with information about a candidate’s work style, their values and how they behave in the workplace and manage relationships. The MCPA can provide you with information about a candidate’s capability, their cognitive decision making and the way they handle complexity, use judgement in decision making, and will provide you with information about how likely it will be that they will feel in flow with the work you are asking them to do.
I believe that conducting reference checks is one of the most important steps in the selection process. I also believe that accountability for reference checking rests with the line manager. This is a task that would ideally not be delegated or outsourced. In addition, the reference check questions should not be a standard template, they should be tailored to each individual candidate. As a line manager this is your opportunity to talk to your potential employee’s previous line manager, subordinate or key customer to validate what value they delivered and what they were accountable for. It is your opportunity to ask in depth questions about their performance outcomes and the behaviours they display in delivering those outcomes.
Include your own line manager in the process, this is an important your organisation’s succession planning
Your own line manager also has an important role to play in the selection of your team. Part of their job is to:
- Ensure consistency in systems and work methods across their different functions or departments and facilitate collaboration between the various teams.
- Being accessible to your direct reports, communicating with them about the future of the organisation, talking with them about their own development opportunities and enabling them to raise concerns or appeal decisions made by you.
- Ensuring succession plans are established, particularly for the role that you and your peers hold, and building capability within the department for future roles
In order to effectively build capability in the team, provide promotional opportunities and succession plans, your line manager needs to be involved in the determining the talent pipeline. At the very least they should be involved in the final stages of the decision making process for every role. They won’t necessarily make the final decision, but they should be able to challenge you on your decision ensuring that the preferred candidate fits into the bigger picture as well. If they can’t be involved in every role, then at least include them in the key ones.
More Information
If you would like some more information – such as:
I’ve never heard of an MCPA what is it? How can you help me do a better job of selecting the right person?
Then let’s touch base – info@harnessingtalent.com.au