Meghan M. Biro* discusses how businesses can take hiring practices to the next level with hiring expert, Lou Adler.
There hasn’t been a time in recent history when the development and application of smart hiring practices has been more important.
Companies are struggling to hire the best and the brightest while facing a unique set of challenges.
We’ll explore if we are meeting this inflection point effectively — and what companies can do to improve their response.
On the last Worktrends Podcast, I spoke with Lou Adler.
We discussed hiring practices and how businesses can take it to the next level.
Lou Adler is a well-known hiring expert, who turned the recruitment industry on its head through his performance-based recruiting model.
With over 40 years in the recruiting industry, Lou’s company, the Adler Group has trained over 40,000 hiring managers and placed 1500 executives for many of the fastest-growing companies.
He is a top LinkedIn influencer and author, known for The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired and the Amazon top 10 best seller Hire With Your Head, Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, translated into multiple languages.
Hiring decisions: Are we making progress?
You contend that hiring results haven’t improved much in the past 25 years.
What is the basis for this claim after tens of billions have been spent on new HR tech?
“Well, the biggest claim is… I look at the Gallup satisfaction report, which comes out monthly and it hovers around 30 to 33 per cent of people who are actually satisfied with their jobs.
“And that number hasn’t changed in 25 years since they started taking it.
“So as far as I’m concerned, things have not only not gotten better, they have gotten worse.
And I contend, I know the reasons why, but that’s least sufficient proof to say, ‘Hey, maybe we do have a problem’.”
The great resignation & job satisfaction
Let’s talk about the great resignation.
In all of the implications, what are you seeing here? And do you have suggestions for companies, recruiters, and job seekers around this?
“To me, and it goes back to the underlying problem of why people are dissatisfied and it really comes down to the point that people take jobs and they don’t really know what the work is.
“And they don’t know what the style of the manager is, they don’t know the quality of the team, and they’re not a hundred per cent sure of what the expectations are.
“The satisfaction is driven by the work itself, the people, the company, the manager, the projects, the impact they’re making, and people give that to a shrift.
“They focus too much on the start date, not enough on the actual work they’re doing.
“So to me, that’s the underlying problem of dissatisfaction.
“And it’s gotten worse because people are now trying to hire faster for more money.
“So now you have the great resignation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
The solution: Recruiters need to understand the roles
Recruiting, with no understanding of the role, won’t help us recruit and retain the contributors.
It’s time to change the mindset about how we approach discussions with candidates.
Quick hiring, without deep consideration of the roles, is fuelling negative outcomes.
“I have the knowledge that I believe is correct, but I think you have HR leaders and companies that have a strategy designed, ‘Hey, let’s fill jobs as fast as we can.’
“And yet I believe the process of making that decision, ‘Should I hire this candidate?’ And from the candidate’s perspective, ‘Should I take this job?’ That is a much more detailed, thorough evaluation.
“That’s an investment on the company’s standpoint in hiring this person and an investment on the candidate, ‘Hey, should I invest my time in this company?’
“And I don’t think the tools that both sides use to make that decision are evaluated properly.
“I think people have competency models.
“They’ve got behavioural interviewing.
“I think that’s a band-aid solution, and I don’t think they’ve really addressed the core problem.”
The solution: Take the time to define the work
There are steps to improving hiring.
However, more time on the front end of the process is necessary.
This requires a close look at critical performance objectives — and incorporating these into a method, a “scorecard”, that can direct the entire recruiting process.
“If you want to implement performance-based hiring, you have to only do two things.
“Number one is you don’t take a requisition filled with skills, experience and competencies.
“Instead, you take a requisition that lists the five or six key performance objectives the person taking that job needs to do over the course of the year to be considered successful.
“We call that a win-win hiring outcome.
“Meaning the candidate says, ‘I’m so glad I had this job over the year and I’m enjoying this work.’
“And hiring manager says, ‘I’m so glad I hired that person.’
“So, defining the work is that core thing.
“The other bookend is, don’t accept or don’t hire anybody unless they meet the standards on a tool.
“We call it the Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard, which determines the 10 best predictors of on the job success.
“If you just put those two bookends in, don’t hire anybody who doesn’t meet these performance requirements and define those performance requirements up front, you’ll figure out what you’ve got to do in the middle to get there.”
In summary: When hiring, emphasize key performance indicators & consistently apply that strategy
Overall, we cannot hope to improve hiring decisions without taking the time to understand the specifics of the role.
The ensuing process should not be a race to hire, but a race to capture the important aspects of the role and communicate this effectively to candidates.
“The issue to get to that though, requires a lot more work.
“It’s not just, ‘Will you take this offer at this point in time?’
“I have to understand the job, I have to understand the environment, the candidate has to understand, ‘Is this the right career move? Is it work that I’m intrinsically motivated to do? Can I work with this team? And can I work with a manager’s style?’”
*Meghan M. Biro founded TalentCulture in 2008 to lead a conversation about the future of work with her peers in HR and leadership.
This article first appeared at talentculture.com.
