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As Published in Business 2 Business, August 2002
Pre-cruitment Sells Profitable Prospects
by Ira S. Wolfe
Talk to anyone looking for an employee with the right skills and well,
let's face facts, just-in-time recruiting just doesn't work anymore.
"Most companies do not even think about their staffing needs until it
literally hits them over the head", according to Bernadette Hill, owner
for Weaver Search Associates. "Just-in-time may work in manufacturing but
fails miserably when 'we need to find this person yesterday' job openings
occur. "The last minute rush to publish a classified ad before the weekend
deadline in response to a resignation or termination are outmoded
techniques and inappropriate in today's environment.
Not only is this approach too expensive and inefficient but it
jeopardizes and compromises both the integrity of the search and selection
process. The individual hired is many times only the best of the bunch,
not the one qualified for the job.
Hill has identified three key reasons why the traditional approach to
hiring is a serious disadvantage in today's labor market.
First and most often, there is not enough time for managers and all
those other employees affected by this new hire to reach a consensus
regarding the personality and competencies this person will need to
successfully perform the job.
Second, the accelerated time frame
for this manager to reach a decision increases the likelihood that they
will interview too few people and make a "shot gun"
decision
Finally, the lack of a defined hiring process, coupled
with the increased chances of hiring the wrong person, can mean very
costly personnel turnover problems and decrease a company's overall
profitability.
One successful solution for clients of Hill has been something called
"pre-cruitment". Pre-cruitment takes the proverbial high road to staffing
by linking the effectiveness of recruitment and hiring efforts to
profitability. Since labor is no longer plentiful, availability on
an-as-needed basis cannot be taken for granted. Fierce competition for
both workers and profits magnifies the effects of even a single hiring
mistake.
Preparing your organization to pre-cruit competitively and recruit
effectively requires several steps.
1. Prepare a competency-based job spec. Effective pre-cruiting
begins with preparing job specifications, including identifying what soft
and hard skills are required, for all key positions. Many organizations
are beginning to complete job audits, or job analysis, that engage key
managers and job holders in identifying these core competencies
"The process was eye-opening," says Lisa Horst referring to the job
analysis conducted in the fall of 2001 by Success Performance Solutions.
Horst is the Catalyst for Growth and Development at Rettew Associates,
Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting firm headquartered in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Rettew was looking to fill some project manager positions. Thirty to
forty people were already employed by Rettew in this key position, says
Horst, but one more time she faced the dilemma of finding the right person
for the position.
Feedback among the managers following the job analysis was very
favorable and the result gave the company a much better idea of what is
necessary for success in the project manager position, reports Horst.
2. Pre-identify A Level Candidates. Pre-cruiting never stops.
Precruiting is a sustained and consistent effort. This enables a company
to have time to search and identify where the top talent is available when
they need it.
Many of Hill's clients have out-sourced their recruiting efforts to
her.
Not only can she pre-qualify potential candidates as an objective
third-party but she acts as a spokesperson for the company, which includes
promoting that company in the labor marketplace.
Hill builds what she calls a "community of qualified applicants", a
candidate database specifically for her clients. Once she pre-sells the
company and qualifies a candidate, many times the flood gates open. While
recently interviewing an applicant for a high-profile sales position, the
candidate recommended several other potential individuals including his
sales manager who was only looking for another job. Her most successful
sources of highly qualified candidates come from other candidates that she
has pre-qualified who just spread the word.
3. A separate applicant assessment process. Apart from the
interview
process, Hill uses behavioral and personality testing to
pre-qualify candidates and enhance the interview. Hill considers herself a
good people reader. But despite thousands of interviews and ten years in
the business, she relies on the tests to confirm more than her instincts.
She breaks down her qualification process into three steps:
First
she tries to disqualify the high-risk and undesirable candidates from the
pool. Secondly, she evaluates the potential candidates on the personality
qualities and skills described on the job specs provided by the manager.
Third, she tries to uncover the fatal flaws that many candidates are so
good at covering up….until they are hired.
Hill uses personality tests to help her to confirm her opinions in the
disqualification and evaluation steps. But she finds the tests most useful
in uncovering the potential flaws before wasting her client's time and
money interviewing job candidates who won't make it. One client has
estimated the savings from her pre-cruitment process in the thousands just
by avoiding flying in unqualified or poorly candidate matches for
interviews. If she uncovers something that might indicate a poor fit, Hill
re-interviews the candidate and re-checks references before making a
recommendation.
"Recently one candidate kept coming up with excuses why we couldn't
check his references. Weeks and weeks went by." According to Hill, the
employer was really impressed with his credentials and pressuring to
extend an offer anyway. "I just had this bad feeling and the tests
suggested a very strong ego as well as a short fuse." In the end, the
tests predicted everything about his behavior. This candidate had lied
about completing some paperwork requested by my client, he never submitted
his references, and the client was saved from hiring a real
con-artist.
Pre-cruitment has also helped Peripherals Plus Technologies Inc. move
away from the many traps of reactive hiring, according to Mike Schmelder,
Vice-president of consulting services. Working with a pre-cruitment
specialist has helped PPT to communicate a consistent and professional
message to all candidates, whether or not they are currently hiring,
resulting in a pre-qualified database of workers when a position opens.
By the time Hill presents an applicant to her clients like PPT, they
are pre-qualified, pre-screened and come with what some might consider " a
user's guide", a report complete with how to interview, and if hired how
to manage, motivate and even coach the candidate.
Pre-cruitment is a proactive solution for companies that understand the
competitive edge in the future will go to companies who have the lowest
turnover, lowest vacancy rates and highest productivity.
Related Articles:
Finding the Right Fit (at Rettew Associates)
Churn-Over: How One Company Said NO to De-motivated
and Unskilled Candidates
Test for the Differences
Between Average and Great Performers
Why Great Salespeople Can't Always Sell
Ira S. Wolfe is founder of Success Performance Solutions. He
is the developer of CriteriaOne™, a blueprint for employee retention
and productivity. For more information about how to match, manage
and motivate your employees, contact Ira at 717.656.4632, email
him at iwolfe@super-solutions.com,
or visit his website at www.super-solutions.com | 
