Month: September 2020

Categories
Business Strategy Human Resources Key Performance Indicators

5 Important Recruiting Tips for Small Businesses

What is the best way to recruit employees?

From our time working with business owners and leaders, we’ve found they all have a few things in common. One is that they are incredibly time-poor. Two is that they spend a lot of that valuable time on areas that aren’t their high-value activities. 

They spend time on operational tasks like accounts payable, administration or reporting because they want to make sure that their business is moving in the right direction. It’s like a train driver leaving the wheel to check if the ticketing officer is charging passengers properly.

Some of the time it’s because managers are worried about things getting done correctly and don’t have strong processes in place to scale accurately. Other times it’s plainly because they haven’t hired the right people, into the right roles and they feel compelled to keep a close eye on their employees to avoid the train running off the track.

As you can probably tell, the impact that a poor recruit can have on small businesses, that already manage tight resources and marginal room for error, is massive. A poor performer can cost you money from your top line and then cost you precious time and energy managing them out of the business, not to mention the effort of re-hiring. 

We see easily avoidable mistakes made every day so we’ve put together our five tips for small business owners to help them get their recruiting right, so they can focus on steering the business to the next station.

1. Hire for attitude over experience. 

Employees with the right attitude, aptitude and behaviours will trump industry experience. 

We’ve put this tip first because we’ve found it to be a failsafe method of hiring the right people long term. Unless it’s a role where detailed knowledge is key to success e.g. a surgeon or lawyer or a crucial leadership position where experience managing people is a factor e.g. a sales manager or CFO, then everything else can be taught. 

If someone has the motivation, cognitive ability and drive…systems, products and procedures can be taught.

Don’t miss out on someone with a positive mindset, who’s switched on and is looking to invest their time and career in your business because there was someone who worked in the same field, brand or product.

We’re sure you’ll agree that it’s more efficient to spend energy training and coaching people motivated to learn on the right procedures and product, than trying to re-train people who know the product or process but don’t agree with the business’ selling style or target market because ‘that’s not how we did it in my last company’.

Getting rid of bad habits will cost you more time, money and resources in the long term, than training the right ones.

2. Read the person, not the resume

A candidate’s application gives you many clues into their disposition and behaviours that aren’t just about their career history. 

This is their first impression for you. Have they ensured they’ve taken the opportunity to make it a positive one?

For example, have they demonstrated they’ve read the advertisement thoroughly and addressed your selection criteria? This shows they’re conscientious and communicate with their audience in mind.

If you’ve asked for a cover letter, have they included one? If they haven’t, they might not be too excited about the role or they have poor attention to detail. Do you want to employ someone with neither?

Have they included a career summary in their resume explaining their objective and path? Does their career path make sense? When someone job-hops from one role to another every 6 – 12 months, it doesn’t mean they’re not a good employee but it does beg the question why they haven’t stuck around…

Reading through their job titles and achievements, look at the language they use to describe what they do and what they’re proud of. You might understand a lot more about their personality and motivations than you’ve realised. 

3. Create an engaging Employee Value Proposition 

An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the sum of what a business can offer and provides to employees in return for joining, staying and doing their best for the company. The fight for great talent is only growing so small businesses need to be innovative and think hard about what they can offer candidates that larger corporates aren’t able to.

For example:

  • Career development within the company
  • 1:1 mentoring, training and development opportunities
  • A friendly, positive culture and flexible working environment

Writing advertisements that specifically communicate what your business can offer employees means you’ll attract people who are interested in and value what your company provides. 

Different offers attract different candidates. And vice versa, you spend less time on people who don’t value what you offer.

4. Use rigorous and objective assessment methods

So now you’ve sifted through a pile of applications and shortlisted candidates to interview. But how do you know you’re assessing the right things? 

Using multiple objective assessment tools confirms not just what you suspected, but also sheds light on areas for development. No-one is perfect, but it’s about finding out from the start what you can work with, and what you can’t. 

This goes back to hiring for attitude, not experience. You may assess a candidate and find out that their customer service skills are second to none, but they have trouble keeping track of their schedule. 

Is this something you can manage and support to ensure your customers are looked after? If yes, then great. If not, well at least you know now and not 6 months into their employment.

On the other hand, you may be hiring a salesperson and find out a candidate’s natural energies and behaviours mean they’re more likely to be less confident in business situations and not enjoy negotiating or persuading. It’s probably not going to be a long term role for them if that’s the case.
You can read more about psychometric testing in our blog here.

5. Use an RPO and leave it to the professionals

If you want to get back to focusing on the bigger picture and steering the train, something to consider is outsourcing your hiring to the experts by using a Recruitment Process Outsourcing consultant (RPO). 

RPOs function as your internal recruitment team. They know and understand your business, the industry and the kind of person that will fit your team and culture. They solely focus on finding and hiring employees for your role and company and have deep knowledge and understanding of the market, average salary and what will attract the right kind of person.

We know you’re busy. We understand you’ve probably hired poor performers in the past and don’t want to continue making that mistake. You don’t have time to review applications and the mental load of deciding who to interview isn’t something you need on your plate. 

The great news is that there are people out there who love helping small-medium businesses grow their team, and who understand the importance of getting every recruit right from administration to operations. Do your homework and find someone that wants to understand you and your business.

 

In summary, we understand that one of the most crucial areas to get right in a business is its people. This has become even more prevalent during COVID restrictions and the challenges that a global pandemic has presented; when you’ve really needed to trust and lean on your team to pull through. In times of crisis and times of growth, having the right people on board your train can be the difference between running off the rails or continuing the journey.

Categories
Key Performance Indicators Performance Management Small Business Recruitment

10 Ways Your Business Will Benefit from Position Descriptions

position-descriptions

When we say the words “Position Description”, for some it can conjure up positive feelings, such as clarity, accountability and alignment.  For others, it feels like bureaucracy, being boxed in and doing paperwork just for the sake of it.  There are those of us who like documentation, whilst others have an allergy to it. I am neither a documentation nor non-documentation person – I am a person who enjoys good business practices that add value.  

Let’s explore where the value in position descriptions lies and whether or not it is valuable for you.  There are 10 benefits that I have broken up into 4 categories.


Hiring the right talent

1. Position Description can give you a better chance of selecting the right person

Take the job titles of Business Development Manager, Customer Service Officer or Marketing Manager.  If you want to increase the chance of hiring the wrong person, be unclear about what the job is.  A clearly defined position description provides what someone needs to be great at, what they need to be good at and what is irrelevant. For those people who just hire people based on who they like, then this may not matter.  But for those looking to bring high performers into their business and are using valid assessments, defining the position is critical to those assessments working.

2. Position Descriptions can help you to attract the right person

What am I signing up for?  If it is not clear what the job is, the high performing candidates may opt out of your job offer.  This is because they are the type of person to carefully consider their decisions and it also shows that you haven’t put in enough effort to complete a PD.  If you can’t be bothered with that, what else will you not be bothered to do?


Operational Excellence

3. Position Descriptions can help to reduce double-handling or tasks slipping through the cracks

When two people have the same task in their position description, it can result in double handling or worse yet – group think.  Whether it’s no one’s job or everyone’s job, having clarity over whose job it is, helps to get over this hump of confusion.  Similarly, the assumption that a task sits with a person who doesn’t know it’s their job (or is in denial about it) can create a lot of noise around the task.  

4. Position Descriptions can assist with reducing excessive hand-offs

By completing a position description exercise that looks at a business holistically, you can identify the best way to organise tasks for the greatest efficiency.  There are often tasks that have evolved over time as the business has grown and in many cases the person completing it is only doing so because that’s what has always happened.  The impact is that they become a bottleneck for everyone else, resulting in poor customer experience. 


Performance and Development

5. Position Descriptions can help with people performing the position you actually want done

Most of us like doing certain things in our job and dislike other parts of it.  There are tasks that we may not even complete at all.  It’s only once we review what the position is meant to be and compare that to what is taking place right now, that we identify the gaps.  Alternatively, where we have a clear position description from the start, the conversation can focus more on what the High Value Activities are within that position that each employee should be focused on to best help the business.  Once we have developed the HVAs, then we can talk about how they can find their way into the calendar every week.

6. Position Descriptions can form the basis of competencies and development

What should be in the training plan of a new starter?  If a position description is clearly defined, it creates a roadmap for what you should be training people one.  You can then circle back to it to check in and see where they are at with their development.  The tasks should all be visible and accessible, which reduces the awkwardness of discussing competency in a role.  Similarly, for those aspiring to the next level, a position description can help provide clarity to a junior employee on the gaps they need to close.

7. When dealing with performance matters, Position Descriptions can be a reference point for what they are required to do.

One of the most common performance issues that exists across all organisations is this: the employee wants to do part of the role, but not all of the role.  Why?  Because they don’t like doing certain aspects of the role and they lack the motivation and/or competence to overcome this hurdle.  The position description can help with everyone being on the same page as to what the job is.


Risk and compliance

8. When looking at whether someone is physically able to perform the inherent requirements of the role, Position Descriptions help to define what this is.

Some businesses will have a process where they ask a new employee to provide information on any pre-existing injuries that would prevent them from performing the job.  This is usually the case in physically demanding positions, although the same can be done for any position.  The trouble is that their method for doing so is not robust, as they have not defined the inherent requirements for the position.  If I have a shoulder injury and you are clear that the inherent requirements of the position require lifting above my head, then it is harder to deny than if you don’t be explicit about it.

9. Position Descriptions are referred to in most employment agreements

This is an obvious practical part of offering a job to an employee.  Your employment agreement (contract) will refer to a position description.  If there is not one that exists or if it is inaccurate or vague, then it makes for a less robust agreement.  Also, whilst modern awards can sometimes be confusing at the best of times, if you haven’t got a position description to compare it to, then it makes it that much harder.  The impact of getting this wrong could result in being in breach of a modern award term or potentially underpayment.  These breaches can come with fines and stress that you don’t want to be getting.

10. When restructuring and having to justify why a position has changed (or not changed), the Position Description forms the basis for that justification

You can’t plan for restructuring or redundancies that are going to take place far into the future.  The point at which you realise you need to take this action is too late if you don’t already have a position description.  If you are making the argument that a role hasn’t changed substantially and therefore would not trigger redundancy or conversely if you are arguing it has changed sufficiently to trigger a person’s position being at risk, if there is no starting position your argument is more open to challenge.

Summary

Not all position descriptions are created equally and not all processes for developing position descriptions are created equally.  Don’t mistake your borrowed version from your friend as having anywhere near the same impact as doing it properly.  By investing in the right expertise, as well as your time and focus to get your position descriptions correct, you will save yourself headaches in the long run.  You can choose to wait until you have learned the lessons directly, or else invest the time and effort now knowing that the above is true, reaping the rewards for years to come.  It’s not about whether you love documents or not – it’s about good businesses practices that help you achieve what you want.

Categories
Business Strategy Key Performance Indicators Performance Management Small Business Recruitment

Why you need to use psychometric testing when recruiting

People are like icebergs. You know the old picture – the one where the mass of the iceberg is hidden from view from those looking at the iceberg from the surface.

Much like the mass of an iceberg, the ability, drives, and motivations of people are usually hidden deep below the surface. Psychometric assessments give us a look at what is underneath the surface level of a person – it gives insight into what drives them.

Why is this important? 

At the end of the day, the primary goal in the game of recruitment is prediction – that is, how certain are we that Joe Bloggs is suited to the role? Can they adapt to the demands of the organization? Do they have the framework to cope with the busy nature of the role? Can they manage a team? Can they perform under aset of time limits? Or, do they enjoy selling?

While a magic crystal ball would be the only thing thatcould give us 100% certainty, phone interviews, behavioural interviews – and yes, even reference checks – can give us some insight into the above questions. Though none quite get under the surface of who someone is more than psychometric assessments.  

 

Not all recruitment measures are created equal

We have probably heard of a questionable candidate who did not work out in their new role. I hear of this all the time. The first step is to sit back and ask how they got the job in the first place, we see red flag after a red flag in the interviews, but their years of experience and outstanding references got them ‘across the line’.

 

References and experience are the least valid measures.

We connect with references because they are other people who know the candidate – surely they know best, right? The reference, caught off guard and not wanting to talk ill of their old workmate, says they were outstanding (despite always being late and nevermeeting deadlines).

And the years of experience they have in the industry, surely, they know how to perform? Though this ignores the fact they may have been flying under the radar and underperforming for 5, 10 or 20 years!

Not all tools will have the same ability to predict how a person will perform – yet we often put more weight on less valid assessments like reference checks and experience.

In a 2016 article called “The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 100 Years of ResearchFindings” Schmidt found that general mental ability as measured through psychometric assessments is the largest predictor of job performance. 

In fact, many assessments have been put to the test – but which ones come out on top in terms of prediction? Below is an outline of just that.

 

 

  • Aptitude tests = .65 correlation (42% of variance)
  • Structured interviews = .58 correlation (33.6% variance)
  • References = .26 (6.7% of variance)
  • Job Experience = .13 (1.7% of variance)


The above picture puts some interesting perspective and challenges the norm; reference checks and experience make up a small part of the pie when predicting job performance. If I had a dollar for every time, I have seen the dreaded 5 years’ experience requirement, I would be rich. And if you’re a business owner, you’d likely be just as rich if you had a dollar for every time a recruiter approached you with a candidate with some impressive number of years in or had great references.

 

These are the least valid measures of performance, yet we often put the most weight on them. We have been focusing on the wrong thing for far too long.

Job experience can be important, however, in my experience far too much weight is placed on this. If you are spending time focusing on experience, rather than what psychometric tests measure (like ability and personality traits), you are leaving yourself open to uncertainty and perhaps worse; missing the opportunity to bring on someone who can change your business.

Most people make supposed informed recruiting decisions and have the nervous wait to see if they have or have not made the right decision. When they are used correctly, and of course, in combination with other steps like structured interviews, psychometric assessments are a useful tool that can cut through the BS and get you that little bit more closure and certainty on your next recruit.