How to Identify Great Talent

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How to Identify Great Talent – Why you Can’t Only Rely on Your Gut Instincts When Hiring

Have you ever met an extremely likeable person you were naturally drawn to in a job interview? Did you think to yourself what an excellent hire they would make without even checking his/her qualifications? Or worse yet, have you even made that important hiring decision solely based on an overall impression of someone?

If so, you wouldn’t be the first. This is a common occurrence with hiring managers and is a guilty temptation indeed! Believe it or not, this situation has been dubbed “The Halo Effect.”

The Halo Effect is defined as a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about his or her character. Essentially, your overall impression of a person can impact your evaluation of that individual’s other skills or traits.

A simple example would be bringing in “Jared” for an interview. Jared is extremely personable, funny, and engaging, and you immediately have a positive overall impression of him. Because your overall impression is positive (“Jared is nice!”), your evaluation of his other traits becomes biased (“Jared must also be intelligent!”).

This is a trap that many hiring managers can fall into. But there are many ways you can avoid relying on your gut instinct when hiring. While you should still trust your gut instincts, as you will be working with this person, validate your gut instincts through a tailored and all-encompasing screening process.

Here are four tips to help overcome your personal biases when making hiring decisions:

  1. Devise a methodical approach to the hiring process. Make a checklist of the required behaviours and stick to it during the interview process. Rate them on a scale so you have something quantifiable to look back on when making your decision. Ask them questions surrounding specific behaviours required for candidate to be successful on the job.
  2. Have candidates complete skill-testing evaluations. There are numerous tests in the HR world that will provide a standardized method to compare individuals. Employment Office is an avid user of tests such as McQuaig and ProveIt which measure behavioural and skill abilities respectively.
  3. Be aware of your personal biases. It’s important to be self-aware when hiring. If you have specific biases, recognizing them and actively putting a stop to them is the first road to recovery.
  4. Always perform reference checks. No matter what, always perform reference checks. If the candidate has a winning personality but doesn’t have the skills to back it up, you can be sure his/her previous employer will have something valuable to share. Going back to tip #1, fall back on your checklist. These are the questions you want to ask when reference checking. If the candidate is applying for a sales job, ask the previous employer sales-oriented behavioural questions. If applying for a managerial position, ask questions surrounding their leadership abilities. It’s as easy as that.

Good luck with your hiring efforts, and give us a call if you would like to discuss recruiting!

67% Say Money Doesn’t Matter

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With 47% of Australians considering looking for a new job this year, and 39% percent considering a total career change within the next five years, it may come as a surprise to employers that it’s not money that is the major driver behind this change. (Pulse Panel Entertainment Study, Jan 2013)

According to a survey of 1,000 professionals across Australia and New Zealand, 67% of candidates surveyed were willing to take a paycut of up to $5,000 to change into a role they enjoyed more. The idea of job satisfaction is the biggest motivator for a career change at the moment, with 17% willing to take on an entry level position, retrain and work their way back up the ladder. A further 5% have stated that they would be willing to take on a traineeship to gain that first foot in the door for a job that they love. (Robert Walters, 2012)

“Our research consistently shows that remuneration ranks highly in what the average professional wants, but is rarely first on the list. Most professionals are willing to sacrifice pay to be in a role they enjoy and are engaged in. Organisations should keep this in mind when searching for new talent and retaining their current teams. To keep your best professionals you must offer attractive benefits, progression and projects that will keep employees engaged.” Rob Bryson (Robert Walters, 2012)

So what does this mean for employers?

  • Staff that feel fulfilled in their role result in a productive and efficient workplace;
  • The roles and industries that offer that ultimate level of job satisfaction are the most attractive when searching for new roles;
  • You don’t have to be offering salaries beyond your means to attract that perfect candidate.

Tudor Marsden-Huggins, Managing Director of Employment Office, said “Highlighting things like company culture and engagement in advertising and employer branding means that organisations don’t necessarily need to compete in regards to remuneration to attract the best candidates”.

Many candidates are passive in their approach to looking for a new role, especially when it is a position that is a major change. 60% of people interviewed in the Pulse Panel Entertainment Survey earlier this year agreed that even though they are not actively looking for work, they will still look through the job ads that appear in areas that they usually read, and 48% said that they still read the employment section of papers and websites even though they are not actively seeking a new role. (Pulse Panel Entertainment Study, Jan 2013)

This trend of passive job seeking reflects the idea that while making a career change that requires retraining and sometimes an entire shift in work experience can be daunting, it is still subconsciously driving their desire to see what their career options are.

Employment Office recommends that employers advertise vacancies across a wide variety of mediums including print, larger job boards such as Seek and CareerOne, as well as niche advertising that targets specific industries, ensuring that the maximum number of candidates have exposure to the role and that the passive audience is also captured.

Poor personal hygiene driving colleagues to distraction

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Could bad breath be stopping your team from reaching its targets?  Or is that persistent cough driving your co-workers nuts?  A new survey has revealed that poor personal hygiene and offensive bodily habits are resulting in a loss of productivity for Australian businesses.

The recent poll from Employment Office has revealed three quarters of Australian workers have been impacted by the poor personal hygiene and distracting bodily habits of their co-workers, causing them to lose concentration.  One in five employees said it negatively impacted on their productivity at work.

75% of respondents reported finding it difficult to work alongside someone with offensive body odour, while 64% have struggled working with a colleague with bad breath.

A further 60% have had trouble concentrating due to a co-worker’s persistent coughing and 48% have had to put up with a colleague with excessive flatulence.

While the subject of personal hygiene can be a sensitive one, it is best for employers to manage such issues in a timely manner, for the comfort of all employees, and to protect the employee in question from continued embarrassment.

“As soon as you become aware of the problem, it’s best to address it privately as soon as possible.  Be considerate, but direct, making sure the employee understands you are not personally attacking them, but rather suggesting changes for the comfort of everyone in the workplace.

“It is important for an employer to resolve any personal hygiene issues before other staff members do it in a non-tactful way.  If this happens the problem can easily escalate and become a bullying issue,” Tudor Marsden- Huggins, Managing Director of Employment Office.

The survey also revealed that despite concerns about the bodily habits of co-workers, 85% of employees are in favour of open plan workspaces. Whilst workers are not desperate enough to go back into secular offices and cubicles, it is still a concern that one in five employees believe the poor personal hygiene of others is affecting their work.

It is important that businesses create an open environment where one-on-one communication is encouraged between employee and manager. This will go some way to dealing with delicate topics.