We are all needing to advance our businesses in a pandemic. We have progressed through the initial panic, and rearrangement of how we do business remotely. We have figured out how to be both effective and efficient work away from the office. Now we need to hire people to move our businesses forward. What steps can you take to make sure your hire is a great one, especially when you cannot physically meet them?
Here is an 8 step process that have worked for our clients:
- Write a position description that identifies the top 10 objectives to accomplish in the near term. Use this as a template to score candidate skills strengths to the role.
- Know your team’s core attributes and abilities. Whar is your team’s communication style? Ask yourself, when interviewing the candidate. Does this person compliment my team?
- Expand your interview jury. Make sure all key stakeholders, and at least one board of directors’ member are involved in the interviewing process. Investigate all concerns.
- Take your time, you can be selective, but do let the candidate know that the process is going to take longer than usual as this is a KEY HIRE for your organization.
- Zoom/Video interviews are very important tools. You will be able to identify most strengths and weaknesses and communication habits in your candidates.
- Reference checks – be sure to use a 360degree approach. At least one, preferably two people in each category: supervisors (board of director if a CEO) peers, subordinates, and a customer (commercial or clinical roles). The point here is to verify what you already know, it is a bonus if you get more information.
- Use an assessment tool – Ipsative are best – one that will grade skills (including leadership) on a curve. You can have an assessment custom built for the role, and it is not that expensive. Think of it as an insurance policy.
- A good recruiter. We know good talent and fit when we see it. We often have many candidates in our pool that we have worked with or met over the years and can quickly assess whether there will be a good fit or not.
Feel free to reach out to me if you think I can help to identify great talent for you or help you design an assessment tool for better hires. Thank you for reading my blog, and please send any comments or insights my way.
