Your organization’s hiring process is potentially the most important indicator of business success. According to research from Gallup, leaders who hire from the top 20 percent of the talent available experience a 20 percent increase in sales, a 10 percent increase in productivity and a 30 percent increase in profitability. Because hiring the right applicants is so important, HR executive benefit from focusing on all areas of the hiring process including the 6 TIGERS® Principles. This includes:
- Attracting and recruiting top talent;
- improving the interview process; and,
- creating advocacy programs with “educated” onboarding that helps to integrate a new hire into the work culture and existing teams.
When HR leaders focus on all aspects of hiring, including introducing new employees to the TIGERS 6 Principles during onboarding, which teaches new employees the behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that cause predictable problems, integration is easier. The benefit is that new hires experience growth and success within their organizations. Their managers experience better retention.
In addition to the TIGERS 6 Principles, The following team building strategies can help department managers and HR advance their hiring strategies to reduce turnover and increase productivity.
Target the right applicants.
Predictive analytic models are proving to be valuable tools for finding top talent. When employers hire from the top 20 percent of the most-talented candidates, they typically experience boosts in sales, productivity and profitability, as well as decreases in turnover and unscheduled absences. But when leaders focus solely on the big data and forget to invest in recruiting strategies, they fail to attract the top talent they need for the job. The candidate pool is the most important factor for hiring top talent, as you need the top talent to apply for your posted job in the first place. Use the big data as a recruitment tool, as well as a hiring tool, to find the best candidates for the position. This means tracking the characteristics of past applicants, as well as identifying the desired characteristics of new hires to entice the right people to apply.
Look to the top.
While it’s important to hire top talent from all levels, hiring top leaders and managers should be ranked as one of the most important facets of hiring decisions. Top performing leaders are able to transform low-functioning teams into high-performing and successful ones. But hiring these leaders may prove to be a problem. Leaders who manage other managers are less likely to leave their current companies, according to the research from Gallup. Only 34 percent of leaders report that they are actively seeking other opportunities outside of their organizations, which greatly limits the applicant pool, making it difficult for companies to attract these leaders. Leaders and organizations then need to be thoughtful in how they attract these individuals and offer the qualities that top leaders are looking for, such as the opportunity to use their strengths, a strong brand and autonomy.
Clearly define the position and ask the right questions.
To receive a strong applicant pool, HR needs to clearly understand and define what they are looking for in the position. Leaders can utilize job descriptions to generally describe the position and duties, but they also need to express the job expectations to detail the important elements of the position, such as deadlines, time frames, proven coaching skills, communication abilities, expected clients or target audience, among others. After receiving a strong applicant pool, leaders should then ask the right questions during the interview process. Instead of asking hypothetical or vague questions, ask very specific and focused questions that require the candidate to draw from their past experiences. This will provide a better picture of the candidate’s background, experience and abilities.
Create employee advocacy programs.
Rather than only looking to outside candidates, leaders should spend some of their time and resources on employee advocacy programs to improve internal hiring and career advancement. Many times, leaders do not have a clear understanding of the talent they currently have available, which leads to wasted talent. Leaders need to perform assessments of their current employees to identify how talent is currently in use, as well as areas that could be improved. By doing so, leaders can reallocate their talent, retrain lower performers and identify individuals who are capable and worthy of promotions. This process requires leaders to trust their team members, as well as to promote collaboration, accountability and engagement. Leaders who struggle in these areas may want to utilize the TIGERS leadership self-study program to improve their skills.
Consider utilizing “blind hiring.”
Blind hiring can mean different things for different organizations, but it typically involves the hiring decision to be made based on a skills assessment or writing test rather than the traditional process of a resume and interview. Blind hiring can be valuable because it can reduce bias and improve cultural diversity in the workplace, but it may not work for every position within the organization. For example, blind hiring works great in the tech industry for positions like coders, whose skill sets can easily be assessed through a coding test. Blind hiring for leaders may prove to be more difficult, however, as many essential leadership skills may be difficult to track through a test. Consider the pros and cons of blind hiring to determine if it is a valuable hiring tactic for your organization.
The hiring process is such an important element for your organization because it determines the type of employees who are drawn to your organization, as well as productivity, profitability and turnover, among other important elements. To improve your hiring strategy with team building strategies, consider your strategy to target the right candidates, looking to the top, defining the position, asking the right questions, creating employee advocacy programs and using blind hiring strategies to improve your hiring process.
You might also find these other articles helpful:
- Hiring Decisions: Big Data Isn’t Enough
- Tough Task: Recruiting Top Leaders From Other Companies
- 5 Things Smart Sales Managers Do to Hire Great Sales Reps
- How to Speed up Your Hiring to Find Valuable Talent Now
- The Case for Blind Hiring
Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton
About TIGERS Success Series, Inc.
TIGERS Success Series is a Bend, Oregon Consultancy offering a comprehensive work culture and change management system for internal and external consultants that builds positive workforce behaviors resonating with trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success in the workplace. People quit companies because they don’t get along with leaders and co-workers. Work culture refinement and behaviors that build strong relationships reverse this trend remarkably fast. For more information call 1+541-385-7465 or visit https://corevalues.com
