Slade Group through its sister company TRANSEARCH International Australia, recently brought Dr John O. Burdett to Melbourne for a series of seminars on topics such as “How to measure culture”, “Tomorrow will be different – Will you?”, and “Why hiring the best candidate may be the biggest recruitment mistake you will ever make”.
On the last topic John says there are 3 undeniable truths about executive hiring – they are:
- The continuing lack of top talent is a major impediment to business growth.
- Far too few of those who make key selection decisions have been fully trained (or trained at all) in the hiring process.
- If you don’t know what you are looking for – only an optimist standing on stilts would believe that they might actually find it.
Considering the business risk involved – some recruitment decisions amount to betting the business – this is no small matter. Even if the hiring decision doesn’t amount to “betting the business” 20x annual salary is a good benchmark for the cost of getting it wrong.
Seven statements that (if any are true) strongly suggest that you need to revisit your approach to talent acquisition.
- Although we have a general sense of the culture we are moving towards, a more disciplined approach, e.g., a systematic assessment of where we are and where we need to be, is not something we have access to.
- Role-specific leadership competencies do not figure prominently in our hiring process.
- We have a job description and develop a specification for the position, but rarely do we build a robust scorecard.
- Few of those who make hiring decisions have been trained in conducting the evidence-based interview.
- We recognise the importance of the team but, for the most part, lack the tools to unbundle what sort of team we are hiring into.
- Rather than validate statements made during the interview, the reference check simply follows up on referees provided by the candidate.
- We invest time and effort in executive integration. What we lack is an integration workbook allowing leaders, who are new to the business, to take ownership of their own integration.
Who you hire today, determines what is possible tomorrow!
If you would like to discuss any of the above with me – please give me a call on 03 9235 5100 or email me at gslade@sladegroup.com.au.
Geoff Slade has worked at the forefront of the Recruitment industry for 50 years. He is the Executive Chairman of Slade Group and was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to the industry.
