Business owners often have a glaring fault in their recruitment plan. They ‘hire for skill and train for will’ when neither of those should take precedence. After all, people bring more to a role than just experience and competency. They bring their behaviours, tastes, habits and hang-ups too.
Together, these elements build a complete picture of who’s suitable for the job, as well as further vacancies down the road. So how can you give yourself the best chance of securing a dream hire? Simple – use job profiling.
Here, we explain exactly what job profiling is, the importance of it, and what you can do today to implement it effectively.
Business owners often have a glaring fault in their recruitment plan. They ‘hire for skill and train for will’ when neither of those should take precedence. After all, people bring more to a role than just experience and competency. They bring their behaviours, tastes, habits and hang-ups too.
Together, these elements build a complete picture of who’s suitable for the job, as well as further vacancies down the road. So how can you give yourself the best chance of securing a dream hire? Simple – use job profiling.
Here, we explain exactly what job profiling is, the importance of it, and what you can do today to implement it effectively.
A profile consists of mapping the job itself – what must be done, recorded and delivered in order for the job to be successful. But from a candidate perspective, we can split the profile into two halves:
- Eligibility: What can the candidate do? How punctual are they? Are they qualified? Will they adapt their current skill set and build on it? Have they hopped from job to job with little consistency over the years? Can they legally work in the UK? And do they have references to back up their CV?
- Suitability: Do they fit into your corporate culture? What motivates them? Are they a team player, or more independent? What do they need for exceptional performance? If they’re more suited to one working or management style over another, what can you give them for the ultimate support? Might they need discretionary attention until they feel more confident about an aspect of the job?
This is only the beginning. A full, deep-dive profile goes further into the variables surrounding a role and the candidate shortlist.
Why should I carry out job profiling?
Job profiling can impact your entire business. Ultimately, it will refine your HR system and lay a framework for the jobs and people that will lead to the most growth.
Through this process, a template is established. Although the context may change from role to role, you now have a way to find and assess candidates on the very best terms for the job you want to fill. This means you avoid recruitment and development mistakes, from first contact to the interview room and beyond.
Furthermore, you can reward excellent performance because you know what that looks like. KPIs can remain the same or be more easily refreshed after looking closely at a role and how it fits more broadly into the business.
Pay structures will better reflect the work carried out as a result. You can be certain that a salary is worth what you’re investing. Meanwhile, you’ll lose fewer employees, and boost engagement. It affects every side of what you do.
How to conduct job profiling
When we ask ‘what is job profiling?’, it’s more than a concept – there’s a practical path to take. Below are the five key steps to making this the norm in your business.
Step 1 – Gather stakeholders
First, identify everyone who has a stake in the hire: figures in recruitment, planning, HR and management, as well as a few of the candidate’s future colleagues and (potentially) any customers or clients.
Ask them what they would value the most from someone in the role. Determine their interests, requirements, and how their own job impacts the other.
Step 2 – Analyse the job
Secondly, uncover what the job entails and how it impacts the rest of the business. Take the basic or pre-existing role description and compare it to the current duties and responsibilities of your particular position.
Maybe the role needs tweaking. Perhaps you shouldn’t look for a like-for-like replacement; a skill set may be out of date, or you may now require experience in a certain technology. In any case, have several people review the refreshed description so you can assess what’s a critical inclusion and what is now outmoded.
Step 3 – Define eligibility
Use the results of your job assessment to build a picture of who’s the most eligible. For example, a set of skills for a technical position may ask for a degree in coding or computer science, yet also demand an amount of leadership that must be proven in a number of areas. You’ll reveal the balance to strike with an in-depth profile. You can determine eligibility before the interview, but it’s better to gauge these factors in advance.
When it comes to the desired experience level, bear in mind that it’s possible to have too much experience, instead of too little. Why? Because those skills can be outdated; it’s tougher for some candidates to admit their old methods aren’t as useful. 12 years’ experience for a role could mean 12 years of baggage. Profiling must land on a precise, ideal length of time spent in an industry or line of work, weighed into the scoring system.
Step 4 – Categorise suitability
Next, list and rank the most desirable personal factors with a three-pronged system: ‘Essential’ to ‘Desirable’ and ‘Avoid’. These can vary tremendously depending on the role and your business culture. Sometimes there’s a generational factor at play, such as Inc.’s findings that 64% of millennials would rather sacrifice a higher salary for something they enjoy doing and find interesting.
Suitability may also change from entry- to mid- and senior-level positions, just like eligibility criteria. Think about what people may want in terms of development [LINK: The 5 Areas of Effective Employee Development] and career advancement – would it be quick or gradual, for instance?
Step 5 – Deploy in the interview
Now it’s time to test the shortlist’s talents, seeing whether they meet the standards you have now set. However, it’s important to bear in mind that candidates won’t be perfect.
It’s likely you’ll overlook some weaknesses for their relevant strengths. So, ask them how they might overcome or work on a shortcoming, and reshape the job around them if they tick the most boxes overall. Read why someone that’s 75% right can still be the best bet here.
Reviewing what you have – and discovering what you need before a hiring initiative begins – is a critically important task. It may cast new light on your own role too, illuminating ways in which it can adapt and be a smoother fit for your operations. But we can help. maxpotenti offer a complete, end-to-end profiling system based on the Harrison Assessment method. It simplifies the whole procedure, and leaves you with a customised blueprint to make every hire with confidence. Call us on 0161 4646 156 or email info@maxpotenti.co.uk to see how we’ll lay down an affective route for you.
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