What is the secret to finding good people?

It is common knowledge that a comprehensive job specification will help you to identify the required technical skills to hire the right people.  However the strength of a strong person spec is far less recognised.   The key areas to think about in a person specification are:

• Cultural alignment
• Personality traits
• Core competencies relating to the role

Cultural alignment

It is very important to recognise that every organisation, department and leadership team has its own unique culture.  Amongst other things this is a combination of how people behave, internal folk law and the specific pressures put upon it.  Any new employee at any level will need to fit into this culture within a fairly short period of time otherwise they will either become disgruntled or be seen as an outsider by the rest of the tem.

Personality traits

There are many tools to measure the personality traits of an individual and they have become a valuable tool in the selection process.  One are that need more work is to first ascertain what personality would be the best fit for the team as this can avoid clashes and internal battles.  Each role, each situation and each team will require something a bit different to fit into so generic personality trait requirements will rarely deliver the desired results.  It is generally recognised that certain jobs suit specific personality types, but to really make this type of selection tool useful the need is best re-visited at the time of appointment to ensure a good personality fit.

Core competencies relating to the role

In this instance core competencies are defined as the ‘soft skills’ required to be successful in the role.  Technical skills are easy to measure through qualifications and experience.  However without the soft skills to complement the technical skills many new employees will be unsuccessful, clearly the more senior the role the more likely this is to be true.

Soft skills can be Empathy, People skills, Social Skills, Critical Thinking, etc etc.  Whilst harder to measure due to their subjective nature, the soft skills required need to be clearly identified prior to any interview or selection process so that they can be observed thought.  Competency based questioning, selection days, personality and emotional intelligence profiling, are all good ways of identifying these traits in a prospective candidate along with simple skilful observation.

Hiring new talent is critical to business long term success, it may not be easy but the results gained from improving your recruitment process can be invaluable.