How do I know I am hiring an effective key player on my team?
A challenge this video addresses is the frustration that can be experienced when staffing for a key position, and offers a few key productive solutions. While the situation addressed in the video focuses on a hospice company that was hiring for a key sales role, it has broad application to any hiring decision.
After experiencing some false starts with hiring people who did not work out in the role (according to management expectations), the company paid many thousands of dollars to a head hunting firm to identify a key player with experience and a proven track record for their sales team. But, the key player from the headhunting firm did not perform as expected, and while the agency provided a future credit, the position remained unfilled.
This problem is not unique to a specific industry or to the sales department only. How can you mitigate this type of risk? How can we better understand if a potential hire for a key role will perform to the level that is expected to meet the objectives for your organization’s strategy?
In the video I address three key tools:
- The Cognitive Assessment and Report
- The Behavioral Assessment and Report
- The Behavioral Interview Guide.
When hiring a key player, the seemingly fastest way to success is to bring someone in with experience, a “proven track record” and in the case of sales, an established book of business. After all, building trust in the market, identifying and cultivating productive relationships in the community, is vital to an ongoing organic flow of clients. And this takes time.
If someone seems to be a culture fit, has desired experience, feels like they have the right stuff – why wouldn’t you extend an offer?
Most managers are good at reading people and making solid assessments about fit, but this typically doesn’t scale. In addition, in smaller orgs you have multiple competing priorities and staffing is just one of them. Anyone that has hired staff, especially a key player role that’s vital to the growth of the business, has potentially experienced this type of frustration with a hire that seemed right on paper but didn’t work out. Competing priorities, coupled with time pressure, a short supply of labor and high demand, and tested patience, crucial things may get overlooked in the process.
In regard to the sales role, for example, matching the right person to the right role is crucial and depends on the match. if you need someone with strong outreach sales skills, relationship building, cultivating, strong social skills and extraversion (the degree to which an individual naturally seeks social interaction with other people), but the candidate is less driving and less independent, wired more for collaboration and stability, they may strive in an inside sales role, but struggle more outside sales.
Maybe in previous roles she had a steady flow of business leads from marketing mechanisms such as PPC and SEO, previously existing sources, a strong brand name, or worked on a team where someone else was the tip of the spear with outreach and your potential candidate was handling more account management and customer service 90% of the time, but was under “sales”. Are you asking a fish to climb trees?
Regardless of the potential variables, you want to know if the candidate can perform what’s needed with your business objectives in the role.
The behavioral interview guide will help address strengths and potential gaps in the interview process.
The cognitive assessment doesn’t measure IQ, but rather how quickly your candidate will learn and get up to speed and can meet the cognitive demands of the job where the assessment is benchmarked to the specific role.
Understanding core drives and workplace behaviors of candidates and employees with insights from the behavioral assessment help create a productive workplace.
Take the guess work out of hiring.
Add scientific tools to have in your arsenal for your HR, hiring and team building approach.
We can put your people data into the context of your business strategy and a refined process not just for hiring, but also designing and inspiring your employees to build your dream team and reach your goals!
Want to optimize your people strategy to match your business strategy?
Schedule a discovery meeting with Sixth Sense Solutions today. Call us at 949-241-6690, or you can reach our team via email at info@SixSenseSolutions.com
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