Maximize your Chance for Hiring a Superstar

According to a number of reports, US economic growth in 2010-11 was suppose to be moderate but sustainable. According to the "Business Roundtable's" first-quarter survey, which was published last April 28th, almost three out of four chief executives expect their sales to rise in the next six months.
The past summer of 2010 was supposed to be the summer of recovery; however unemployment continues to hover around 9% and the economic recovery is slow at best.

Unemployment is still high and hiring is sporadic. Many businesses who have survived these last 2.5 years are either holding off hiring or are only considering replacing just a few of the many gaps created in their last downsizing. If you are considering hiring, then you are probably going to be very cautious. You will need to make sure that if you hire, you are getting an immediate impact on the bottom line. This is especially true if you are a small business. You simply can't afford to waste time hiring the wrong person; you need a superstar!

With unemployment still near double digit, you can bet that there is a lot of talent out there to meet your needs. Unfortunately, if your hiring technique is like most companies, you only have a 19% chance of hiring an outstanding contributor, even with a mile of applicants lined up outside your door.

To explore this problem, let's review the "traditional hiring system".

1. Applications, resumes and cover letters are reviewed and the "best fits" are selected.


2. These candidates are invited in for a round of interviews.


3. Back ground checks and reference verifications are done.


4. The "best" candidate is selected for either hire or a second round of interviews for final verification.

So when you are done with this process, who did you select?

Hopefully you selected a candidate that has the educational background and experience that you believe is needed for the job. In all likely hood, this candidate had to have good communication and presentation skills to make it through the interview process. And probably most people involved in the interview process found the candidate "personable". In today's job market, this candidate probably received training and coaching on resume writing and interviewing. Unfortunately being good at writing resumes and doing interviews does not mean one can do the job effectively, unless that job is writing resumes and doing interviews.

The traditional process if done well will identify candidates with strong education, training and experience relating to the job. Unfortunately, while experience, training, good interviewing skills etc may be important, these are not the critical characteristics associated with superior performers. Most of the traditional hiring methods don't even touch on the critical characteristics. The following characteristics are far more critical in assessing a candidate than what typically is learned in a job interview:

• Behavior patterns


• Personality traits


• Mental abilities


• Interests


• Motivators


• Compatibility


• Job match indicators

You may have heard something like this, "Sally had a great interview, is extremely knowledgeable in her field, but we are now finding that she simply does not have the assertiveness to make sure the job is done". People are usually not being terminated or quitting because of lack of job related training. Usually they are terminated because of "lack of motivation', "inability to work with team members", "too bashful" or "too abrasive" and a list of other characteristics not explored during the hiring process.

Today, there are pre employment assessment tools that can measure the above characteristics and more accurately assess the viability of the candidate. These tools are widely available and easy to use. The cost is insignificant when compared to the benefit realized, or the cost of hiring the wrong person. Consider the following:

• Interviews alone have 14% success rate in identifying superior people


• When you add "background checks" to the process you increase the success rate to 26%


• When you add "personality & behavior" to the process you increase the success rate to 38%


• When you add "mental abilities" to the process you increase the success rate to 54%


• When you add "interest & motivators" to the process you increase the success rate to 66%


• When you add "job matching" to the process you increase the success rate to 75%

Imagine having 75% of your company being outstanding performers; people who are passionate about their work, highly engaged in your company's metrics and are continuously striving to improve performance. The only way you will find that person is to use objective, effective pre-employment selection systems that go way beyond the tradition hiring. This is not some new cutting edge methodology, it is tried and true. Pre-employment selection systems work, as studies show that the chances of hiring an outstanding employee are 4 times greater than traditional hiring methods.

In today's environment, your business has less room for error than ever before, it only makes sense to make sure that one hire you have this year, makes a difference in company performance.

Mary Gorski has more than 17 years of corporate human resource management and assessment experience. She has worked with many levels of leadership and understands the needs of a well-run, efficient business. Mary is an expert in employee assessments and trains companies to use science in human resource management. Pre-employment assessment, leadership development, employee engagement and sales force productivity are just a few examples where she brings in training and tools to improve business performance.