“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you always got”
So says the old wisdom about process that many businesses leaders and owners have taken on-board as they invest in lean processing and change management to help drive their business.
Why then do they persist with selecting new recruits in the same old outdated way?
As Matt Weston MD of Robert Half the major UK recruiter recently said “….. what looks good on paper – such as experience or technical skills – does not guarantee a successful recruit. Soft skills must also be taken into account, Employers should strike the right balance between experience, skills and personality – only through planning can they evaluate gaps in a team, rank the required characteristics and tailor training accordingly.”
It is really important when recruiting to use a balanced process combining different elements to build up a full picture about the candidate and not just concentrate on their CV and the experience they have to date or your perception about the kind of person you want.
Therefore, my 3 tips for Leaders and Owners looking to strengthen their teams, particularly in SMEs are:
1. Use structured interviews to establish whether the candidate really has the right skills for your role, preferably in a panel. Previous experience is important, but does it actually tell you if they can do the job in your business?
2. Use Psychometric tests - but in an effective way. Spend some time thinking about the skills you need from your new person and use the test to predict these, 32 personality factors are fine but they are not all relevant to your role.
3. Use other assessment exercises to confirm your results about the candidate, a presentation on a well thought through topic can give you extra information about how the candidate thinks as well as how they present, this can support or remove the opinions you have from other parts of the process.
So, in summary, avoid forming perceptions based on your personal feelings and the candidate’s previous workplace or school and base your decision on whether they can actually do the job.
Stop doing what you have always done and bring some modern process to your recruitment!