Added August 28, 2006Discovery #2
Your discovery process actually begins long before you post a position. You as a team have to discover who you are. What is your mission, your vision, your driving purpose, your core values? If you do not have total clarity on these, how you expect to hire the right people is beyond me. Once these are clear, you then can prepare the specifications for your position. You must have total clarity on the values, behaviors, and traits you need in the new person. You must know exactly what you want them to do and to what performance level. And, you must be exact as to the skills, experience, and education you want them to bring to your company. Without this base knowledge, a discovery process is worthless because you do not have a target.
As part of your discovery process set up, you need to establish a target. Describe the ideal candidate and place this description as the bulls-eye on your hiring target. Now, keep in mind the perfect candidate does not exist. Your task, through effective discovery, is to find and hire the person who is as close to your bulls-eye as humanly possible. A client once commented to me, when we were establishing the target, that the ideal person sounded like he/she walked on water. Well, we know only one person who ever did that, but when we feel like we are describing someone who could walk on water, then we are close to having the right description. Or as stated in Proverbs 13:16, “Every prudent man acts out of knowledge, but a fool exposes his folly.”
In future “Hiring Insights” I will address specific techniques and methods to help you set up an effective and efficient discovery process. This will include some effective interview strategies as well as skill testing, reference checking, and thorough background checks.
