recruitment
Gut feelings will continue to play a role, but the statistics show
that we shouldn’t be following the “golden gut” to make the perfect
hire that will help our organization profit.
Removing guesswork and personal feelings from hiring de-cisions
means focusing on gathering scientific data to build a
data-driven approach to decision making. An objective method
gives employers the ability to predict natural workplace be-haviours
based on the candidate’s responses to a list of varied,
symbolic stimuli. Not only does the data measure behaviour and
motivation accurately in a real environment, it can help identi-fy
the prospective employee’s style and long-term potential with
the organization.
DEFINING BEHAVIOUR, AND NOT JUST TASKS
The first mistake we see employers make is the decision to write
a job description, post and wait. Transactional managers see the
job description as another task to check off. Since the attitude of
a prospective employee is just as important as aptitude, consider-ation
must be given to how to measure their behaviour in an actual
work situation.
Movember Canada, a charity focused on making an ever-lasting
impact on the face of men’s health, encountered such a
scenario while growing their Canadian team. Their challenge
was growing the team without negatively impacting the unique
culture of “Havin’ Fun Doin’ Good” that they had worked dil-igently
to create. One poor hiring decision could throw the
high-functioning team off course and damage the early forming
culture at Movember Canada.
Movember addressed challenges head-on by developing an
understanding of the behaviours required for the role and imple-menting
behaviour-based interview questions. The questions and
Ross & McBride LLP
www.rossmcbride.com
associated processes identified gaps between the behaviours need-ed
for the position and those the candidate possessed.
IDENTIFYING NATURAL BEHAVIOURAL DRIVES OF
CANDIDATES
People are motivated by their felt or perceived needs. This is true
in life as it is in the workplace. If employee behaviours match those
required by their job, there’s a higher potential for success for both
the employee and the company. Amazingly, the average turnover
for hourly quick service workers hovers at 130 percent, according
to QSR magazine.
Upon applying an analytical, scientific approach, multi-unit
Subway restaurant owner, Harold Jackson, realized that part of
the reason for his employee turnover was due to placing new hires
in the wrong positions. Jackson recalls one such employee who was
originally in a key customer service role. By analyzing predictive
data, Jackson realized that the employee was more suited to a “be-hind
the scenes” role, so he moved the employee from customer
service to food preparation. By leveraging this newfound scientif-ic
data, the franchise owner saw turnover reduced by 50 per cent,
which resulted in increased productivity and significant cost sav-ings
as the amount of training for new hires was also reduced.
ASSESSING THE CANDIDATE’S FIT FOR THE JOB
Having taken the time to identify the behaviours necessary for
success in the job as well as the behavioural personalities of the
candidates, an informed decision can be made as to which candi-date
to hire.
With just three staff sales positions, Chudleigh’s Apple Farm
needed to be sure that their sales team’s skills included those of a
skilled market researcher as well as those of a sales representative.
Hire a Canadian Registered Safety Professional
(CRSP)®
to protect your most important resources
Increasing health and safety hazards in the workplace, mounting
occupational incidents means that your organization cannot
afford anything less than a Canadian Registered Safety
Professional (CRSP) ®.
A CRSP ® offers in-depth knowledge of OHS principles and
practices and applies this knowledge to develop systems in order
to achieve optimum control over hazards
in your workplace.
Visit www.bcrsp.ca
to learn more or
to advertise to hire a CRSP ®.
Board of
Canadian
Registered
Safety
Professionals
34 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
