Would you hire you?

Over the past 20 years, I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of hiring managers and thousands of candidates. Often times, a highly qualified and motivated candidate is passed over because he/she lacks a few skills or a specific type of experience yet still possesses the core competencies and behavioral fit qualities. I often wonder (sometimes out loud)… would this hiring manager actually hire himself or herself for his/her initial or current role? Did this hiring manager check every qualification box or was she provided the opportunity to learn, grow and develop her skills and experience?

One aspect of the candidate decision making process has remained constant over time, and that is most every candidate wants to learn and develop his/her skills and experience. If the role at hand does not provide room for growth, then the opportunity tends to lose its appeal. Far too often, the candidate qualification:capability ratio is too narrow and the company unwittingly misses out on a promising hire. Or if the new employee does get hired but has a flat learning curve, then he/she becomes a flight risk and an attrition statistic within 18 months.

An effective selection process tends to thoroughly flush out the baseline required competencies, skills and experience from the preferred. This additional effort should establish a more attractive opportunity and create learning curves/career growth opportunities for the majority of candidates. Attention to this aspect should strengthen the candidate selection process and ultimately influence employee productivity and longer term retention of high performers.

Posted by: David Daganhardt, Managing Partner, Bristol Search Group