Hiring the perfect employee is not easy. Even the best attempts to screen applicants with testing, background checks, reference checks or interviews will often end in disappointment. The best screeners, those that have spent their entire careers honing their skills, will rarely do better than 60% good hires.
So, how do you stack the odds in your favor when screening potential future employees? Let us look first at the interviewing process and a couple of techniques that will be sure to improve your percentage going forward.
The first technique is to screen for motivation. Understanding the motivation behind why an applicant did something is paramount to getting an exceptional employee. Two resumes can look deceivingly similar in experience, education and skills. The differences will be measured, to a large degree, not by what they did, but by why they did it. The secret is in asking questions that elicit motivational responses. When reading a resume that shows major accomplishments at employer X, it is fair to ask why they were looking for a new employer. The first answer you get will always be the answer they practiced, such as, “left for a better job”. That is when the real questioning should start, such as, “Why did you start looking for a new position when you were obviously having some major successes at employer?” Just keep asking “Why”. With each answer you begin to peel back the layers until you get to the motivation behind why they started looking for a new position in the first place.
Understanding the motivation doesn’t always tell you whether they would be a good fit for your position but, over the course of questioning, you will begin to get a pretty good picture of what motivates that person. They may hate confrontation, they may dislike certain management styles or they may have a high need for personal praise. By understanding their motivation, you can take a critical look at your organization and tell whether they will get their needs met, or whether they will be out looking for a new job in short order.
The next secret to great hires is in reading between the lines. I have managed call centers for years and I have seen many resumes where an applicant has worked at multiple call centers for 6 months and then moved on to the next one. Irrespective of what they say, that applicant does not enjoy that type of work. The probability that they will like your similar position is unlikely. Reading between the lines is more subjective but you do better if you look at a resume as a marketing campaign rather than fact.
By practicing these techniques, you too can radically increase the likelihood of finding the perfect fit for your position and your company.