Getting Recruitment Right
We have looked before at the importance of getting recruitment right.
That’s why I was interested in an interview conducted with Mark Murphy, the founder and CEO of cutting-edge research and leadership training providers, ‘Leadership IQ’.
In the interview Mark talks of the 20,000 new hires his company tracked. I was more than a little shocked to read that 46% of them failed within 18 months. Interestingly, only 11% of the failures were attributed to lack of skill. 89% of failures were down to attitudinal reasons, including low emotional intelligence and poor levels of motivation.
The fault lies, of course, with employer recruitment processes. These are reasonably effective at assessing whether candidates have the right skill sets for the job. Unfortunately they often fail to evaluate whether the right soft skills are in place for the candidate to thrive in the organization’s culture.
So how do you determine whether someone you’re thinking of hiring has the right personality for the job and for your organization?
Rather than plunder what Mark Murphy and the other experts interviewed in the article suggest, I put my thinking cap on and came up with the following:
Having the right people around you is key for leadership success.
Tags: academic history ask questions attitudinal reasons best people candidates career success ceo cutting edge research employer recruitment processes evaluate existing members of staff failed founder getting recruitment right ideal candidate profile importance interaction with other candidates job key lack of skill leadership iq leadership success leadership training providers low emotional intelligence makes your best people tick mark murphy motivation open plan environment organization organizations culture poor levels of motivation probe cultural fit reasonably effective recruiting new employees recruitment recruitment days right personality right skill sets right technical skills social life outside work soft skills staff the right people use of social media
That’s why I was interested in an interview conducted with Mark Murphy, the founder and CEO of cutting-edge research and leadership training providers, ‘Leadership IQ’.
In the interview Mark talks of the 20,000 new hires his company tracked. I was more than a little shocked to read that 46% of them failed within 18 months. Interestingly, only 11% of the failures were attributed to lack of skill. 89% of failures were down to attitudinal reasons, including low emotional intelligence and poor levels of motivation.
The fault lies, of course, with employer recruitment processes. These are reasonably effective at assessing whether candidates have the right skill sets for the job. Unfortunately they often fail to evaluate whether the right soft skills are in place for the candidate to thrive in the organization’s culture.
So how do you determine whether someone you’re thinking of hiring has the right personality for the job and for your organization?
Rather than plunder what Mark Murphy and the other experts interviewed in the article suggest, I put my thinking cap on and came up with the following:
- Have recruitment days that involve not only an interview but also interaction with other candidates and with existing members of staff.
- Assess how and where you found your best people and apply that to recruiting new employees.
- Analyze what makes your best people tick… their academic history, their social life outside work, their use of social media and so on to determine an ‘ideal candidate profile’.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions that probe cultural fit, e.g.:
- How do you feel about working in an open plan environment?
- What would a great working day consist of?
- What’s your definition of career success?
- How do you feel about devolving important tasks?
Having the right people around you is key for leadership success.
Candidates having the right technical skills is no longer enough!
Tags: academic history ask questions attitudinal reasons best people candidates career success ceo cutting edge research employer recruitment processes evaluate existing members of staff failed founder getting recruitment right ideal candidate profile importance interaction with other candidates job key lack of skill leadership iq leadership success leadership training providers low emotional intelligence makes your best people tick mark murphy motivation open plan environment organization organizations culture poor levels of motivation probe cultural fit reasonably effective recruiting new employees recruitment recruitment days right personality right skill sets right technical skills social life outside work soft skills staff the right people use of social media
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