The Employer's Challenge

Employers have always attempted to hire the best job candidates. This process has historically followed the path of intuitive insight or "gut reaction" by the hiring authority. Although there is the belief that this process works, the results paint a much different picture. Employee performance is often characterized as just acceptable or poor with lower performance and high turnover costs.

A few years ago Forbes Business magazine published an article, which stated that employers needed to answer only three questions when making a hiring decision. The first question was, do they fit the job? The second was, are they motivated? The third asked, can we tolerate them? The last question is related to the company's corporate culture. Does this candidate blend into the profile and image that the company wants to model and project? The question of motivation starts with the job candidate's beliefs. Do they want to match the company goals and what are they willing to do to attain those objectives? There are indicators in people's competencies which can expose a candidate's attitude in this area. Finally, job match has been ignored or at best addressed lightly in the past. It is also now more difficult to identify the candidate's match as job descriptions have become more complex. Candidates are now coached with key words and phrases to mask their lack of job match on resumes and during the interview.

The starting point for the hiring process needs to begin by measuring each job description accurately. This provides the base to measure the best prospective employees. It can be illustrated by something as simple as purchasing a new suit. If the clothing did not have sizes and you did not know your size, you would just start trying on coats to see what fits. This lengthy process would certainly take much of the joy out of shopping. You cannot however start trying on employees in the same manner. Having an accurate size on a job and being able to match candidates to that pattern will improve hiring, save time and lower costs.

The job functions are the best job match indicator which indentifies the needs of the job which can then be compared to the job candidates attributes. The second step is an evaluation by employees who work around the job using a survey to develop a subjective job pattern. The third step compares the position to other similar job descriptions which have been validated for other companies. Lastly, a validated job pattern can be compiled by measuring the company's top employees and constructing a pattern to duplicate the best workers in that job description. The validated pattern is accurate and provides legal protection in the event of an adverse hiring complaint. Not all positions must have the four steps and sometimes these steps are developed concurrently over time.

Once these accurate job match patterns are established the hiring phase becomes much easier. Job candidates can now be measured by completing the Professionally You™ survey and comparing their results to the established job pattern to determine their degree of job match. The employer can now identify the best job candidates, those that are average and the ones that present a low probability for succeeding on the job. The employer then proceeds with the best job match applicants by looking at experience, training, corporate culture, references and background research to narrow the field and find the best employees.

The Professionally You™ Report establishes "ownership" of the new employee's attributes which will assist the employer in capitalizing on their strengths and help the employee compensate for any challenging characteristics. This process opens the door for more effective coaching and training and reduces the risk of the employee feeling targeted when there is the need to point out performance issues during employee evaluations.

Only your employees can unlock the potential of your business and only good information, training and development can unlock their potential which brings benefits to your bottom line.