Staff Selection: Break All The Rules And Succeed

Introduction

Business has been following the same rules for staff selection for up to 100 years. It’s about time to start breaking the rules. The job description, advert, resume, interview, reference check model has outlived its usefulness.

Some Background

When this model was introduced in the early 20^th Century

• Telephones were still uncommon
• Computers were a boffin’s dream
• Email, the mobile or cellphone, the PC, social media and all the technology we take for granted today simply didn’t exist
• Letters were delivered twice daily by a postman
• Business was conducted with great formality
• Few people could use a keyboard … any typing was painfully slow
• Few employees had college degrees
• Handwritten job applications were usually demanded
• Business owners and managers wielded great power:

and in the 1950s and 60s there were more jobs than people.

The Flaws In The Old Model

1.  The Resume

Would you believe that today the experts estimate that more than 70% of all resumes and written applications are prepared by professional writers? And that applies for all jobs.

I’m not suggesting that those resumes and written applications are deliberately misleading. I am saying that they are designed with the applicant’s best interests, not yours, in mind.

And remember, it’s likely that all applicants are complete strangers.

2.  Shortlisting

The shortlist is usually prepared on the basis of the written resume. That’s the same resume that’s prepared to serve the candidates’ goals not the employers’.

3.  The Interview

You conduct interviews of shortlisted candidates, still based on the written resume. The process creates a Self Fulfilling Prophecy. Their resume looks good. The interview goes well. Such a candidate becomes highly favoured.

4. Reference Checking

You check out past performance with previous employers. The names are usually provided by the candidate. You probably don’t know the nominated referees. You don’t know whether the referee is the candidate’s best friend or worst enemy. This process is so patently unreliable that I’ll go no further.

5. The Offer

Everything works out. The candidate submits a very persuasive resume and goes to the top of your shortlist. He or she interviews well and is lauded by referees. They seem to you to fit your requirements. You offer an appointed based on

• A resume or written application presented by a complete stranger
• An interpretation of an interview performance created by a self fulfilling prophecy
• Comments of referees who are also likely to be complete strangers.

6.  Ignorance

Except in rare circumstances the employer has no absolute proof that the employee can actually do what they, and perhaps their referees, say they can do.

Does This Make Sense?

You simply cannot tell what someone can do merely by talking with them. Yet conventional staff selection places enormous emphasis on so called “interview performance”. That’s OK if you’re appointing someone to “perform well at interviewing”. It’s not OK for any other appointments. Positive and impressive interview behaviour is given much greater weight than proven on job performance. Is that wise?

Other Impediments

The purpose of staff selection is to get a job done, not to choose a person. The person is a resource.

• In selecting new staff you try to predict which of the shortlisted resources will be successful for you in the future. Yet this prediction is based almost entirely on what they’ve done for others in the past.

• In some cases no job description is prepared. “The one we used last time” is regarded as acceptable. Jobs change, demands change, people change. Even where a job description of some sort is used it lacks specific, measurable job results that the new staff member must achieve to be regarded as successful and effective. It may contain wordy waffle about “Key performance Indicators” or something similar. But that’s all.

Most job descriptions are simply a wishlist of perceived desirable skills and behaviours. Measuring successful job performance rarely gets a mention.

• Employers try to attract as many applicants as possible with the job ad. This practice too is undesirable. You waste time reading small mountains of resumes from candidates, all of whom are trying to impress you. And most of them are quite unsuitable anyway.

The purpose of the job ad is to attract the “perfect” candidate and deter everyone       else. Few job ads say “only apply if” or “do not apply unless”

• Managers believe they must “sell” the company to the most attractive candidates. This too is foolhardy. Selection is a retail transaction. You are the buyer. Candidates are the sellers. Behave like a buyer.

Some Ground Rules

a)  Never ask for resumes and written applications

b)  Create your shortlist based in an in depth telephone screening interview

c)   Offer a face to face interview only to candidates you’re satisfied can do the job

d)  Test, test, test: if an applicant claims he or she can do something, get them to actually do it

e)   Remember, you cannot tell what a person can do merely by talking with them

f)    Every time a vacancy occurs prepare a new job analysis based on on-job results and how they’ll bw measured

g)   Always use a probation period before confirming an appointment.

Conclusion

Look around your workplace. What are you still doing the way you did it a century ago? Don’t make staff selection the exception.

What To Do Now

Go to the “Selection” category in the sidebar. Scroll through and read those articles that will help you most now. Read the others later. Contact me if you’d like more information or if you have specific questions. Please leave a comments too.

Please remember to click on the “Resources” tab in the navigation bar to find out how else we can help.