Hiring Preamble
Some words of introduction
Research suggests that executive-level job holders can impact business performance by up to 40%, with a potential positive impact of up to 20% and, conversely, a negative impact of -20%.
This applies not only to executive-level hires but also to senior specialist roles, where the ripple effect can be significant. Notably, 40% of new hires fail.
Properly mapping out your hiring challenge (the job spec) from the outset will help mitigate your risk.
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1) Mapping out the hiring challenge
Your starting point should be to begin with the end in mind — what do you want someone to achieve, and then work backwards.
For leadership roles, think about what you want the person to achieve over 12, 24, and 36 months. For senior specialist roles, focus on what you want them to accomplish within a 12‑month period.
Working backwards from those outcomes, consider what your hire needs to do to meet or exceed them — their responsibilities, behaviours, actions, and accomplishments that will move them toward those objectives.
You can then determine what qualities are required of the job holder in order to make these things happen. Think educational qualifications, acquired skills and experience, track record and motivations.
It's likely you'll quickly develop a long list of 10-20 qualities, some of which will be more important than others.
Pinpoint the 5–7 qualities that truly drive results. List and label these as your key criteria.
List your other criteria or considerations separately below the above.
2) Benchmarking and assessing candidates
When evaluating candidates, it’s easy to get lost in an exhaustive list of desirable qualities. Instead, focus on the five most critical dimensions that truly define success in the role.
A key factor should be the candidate’s track record—what measurable impact have they delivered over the last 3-5 years?
The remaining dimensions will likely revolve around skills and abilities, including:
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Seniority and scope of the role
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Depth and breadth of experience in relevant functions.
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Market expertise or industry-specific knowledge.
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Problem-solving skills aligned with the challenges of the role.
4) Landing "A" Player Talents
The one thing you've got to know if you want to hire "A" players is that you must constantly tune in to their perspective and their interests. With few exceptions, only those people who are highly accomplished interviewers know how to do this. Most people who interview candidates fail to build rapport, tune into the candidates' perspectives, and build a relationship. This is acceptable when interviewing a poor or mediocre candidate who is out of work, but when it comes to "A" players, they're interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them. When faced with an "A" player, you need to sell the opportunity to them without overselling it—recruitment done well means recruiting the right people into the right jobs for the right reasons
6) Structuring the interview process
You and your business may already have a preferred approach to:
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Defined recruitment stages, participants, and timelines.
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Clear assessment criteria and selection tools.
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Plans for onboarding and integration into company culture.
I'm going to outline a process that works well—understand that this is intended specifically for making senior specialist hires.
You need to consider who will be involved in the interview process. Best practice suggests including the hiring manager (the person to whom the role will report), your boss, a peer of the prospective hire, and someone from HR. If it’s a leadership role, you'll probably want candidates to meet as many as five, six, or even seven people as you progress from initial interviews, qualifying candidates in or out through each stage.
Decide who will meet candidates at each stage. You'll need to determine which skills, experiences, capabilities, and motivations you want to assess in candidates.
Which questions will best uncover these attributes? In what order should they be explored—and who will ask which questions, at which stage?
How will you gather the feedback?
The simplest way is via email - for the interviewer to feedback to the hiring manager their thoughts about how well the candidate meets the required expectations - listing the question followed by their feedback.
to be continued
