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!