hiring for success

How often do we hear an employer complain about being dissatisfied with an employee’s performance?  They’ve given them training, support and provided them with the tools to succeed however, they are still not where they need to be in terms of performance.  The person hired seemingly ticked all the boxes at the interview only to not follow through on the job.

Not receiving training or the resources necessary to succeed in a role is the responsibility of the employer however, in those cases where these are provided and the new employee is ‘set up for success’, employers can be left scratching their heads as to what went wrong.

The answer too commonly is poor recruiting, where the wrong person has been hired for the job.  This is not to say that the person is incompetent or wouldn’t be successful in another position but sometimes a person is just not suited to a particular role.

As humans with different personalities, interests, talents and abilities, we are not all suited to every type of job.  For example not everyone is a scientist, an accountant, a teacher or a salesperson.  Even though the intentions of the person applying for a role may have been admirable, as with all of us their individual differences make them more suitable to certain roles than others.

Unfortunately sometimes people who recruit for positions are not necessarily experienced recruiters therefore, they struggle with what to look for.  This is a common occurrence in retail, sales and customer service positions where a Store Manager rather than a Human Resources or Recruitment specialist is responsible for screening applicants and conducting interviews.  Often, they can be desperate to fill a position, making rushed decisions and ultimately make a wrong choice for the business and for the new recruit.

Knowing what questions to ask to identify less obvious traits such as intent, drive, commitment and a willingness to learn are vital.  This is often uncovered through behavioural questions that are not straight forward, where responses can’t be rehearsed or prepared.

The message is, whoever is doing the recruiting needs to have the skills and the intuition to do so.  While interviewing skills can be learned, intuition comes with experience and a ‘gut of how to look past the ‘performance’ of the interviewee, that not everyone has.  Without this, a candidate may look great on paper and at face value but in reality, not possess the necessary characteristics.

​It takes a lot of time and money to recruit and train a new employee only to find out the person was never actually suited to the role.  Imagine the time and money saved if attention and care was given to ensuring the right fit for positions rather than finding out way too late.