by Barry Frey, Senior HR Consultant & Certified Talent Management Consultant
Is there anything more important to your organization's future than having the right people in the right positions?
Hiring a senior member of the executive team is one of the most important decisions that an organization can make. A top manager, such as a vice president, controller or plant manager, has a tremendous impact, for profit or loss, on the entire organization. In spite of the high stakes involved, many organizations still make such hiring decisions based on "seat of the pants" and "gut feelings." Although intuition and organizational fit play an important role in hiring, following a well-thought out process is critical to achieving the best results. A few of the ingredients in the recipe for making a good hiring decision include:
- Develop a competency profile for the position. The factors required for superior performance in any key position go beyond a written job description. Get a clear picture of the specific behaviors, skills and abilities that lead to success. In addition to the managers to whom the position reports, get input from several organizational peers and subordinates. This multi-dimensional look at the position helps capture the subtleties in decision making. Hiring a sales and marketing executive? Ask a few customers for input. They know what they're looking for and often are flattered to be asked.
- Conduct structured interviews. The hiring process often gets derailed by an interviewer who asks each applicant different questions based on individual resumes, rather than tailoring the interview to the position requirements. While some questions need to be asked to verify and clarify a candidate's experience, the interview should be "structured" around a group of core questions designed to measure the candidate's knowledge, skills and abilities against job requirements. This facilitates more accurate comparisons of strengths and weaknesses between candidates and helps defend against charges of discrimination of hiring decisions.
- Ask behavior-based questions. Since past behavior is the best predictor of future performance, ask each candidate to describe a time when he or she handled situations similar to those involved in the position being filled.
For example:
- Tell me about the toughest bank negotiation you ever handled.
- Describe a time when an important customer demanded to move up a delivery date and you were already pushing to meet schedules.
- I'd like to hear about the way you handle a major equipment purchase. Just walk me through it
- Include formal assessment. With a high-stakes hire, the more quality data you can get, the better the hiring decision will be. A hiring process that includes assessment designed by a qualified professional will provide management decision makers with the best possible picture of each candidate's strengths, weaknesses and organizational fit.
- Conduct a thorough background and reference check. Although lawsuits by disgruntled applicants have had a chilling effect on previous employers' willingness to disclose information, this is still a critical step. Stories abound of candidates who have provided false or misleading information on their resumes.
- Develop a Key Executive Integration Plan. Many organizations literally have a more thorough orientation plan to immerse him or her in the business. The new team member will need to understand your culture, meet peers, customers, industry contacts and community stakeholders, and understand your systems and processes. The shorter the learning curve, the sooner your return on investment begins.
LMA Consulting provides a full range of services to assist our clients with recruiting key employees.
Barry Frey, is a Senior HR Consultant with LMA Consulting Group. He is also a Certified Talent Management Consultant. Contact Barry at 717.509.8889 or via email bfrey@lmaconsulting.cc.