I’ve been inspired by recent articles I’ve read. There have been full of hope, determination and focused on driving change. Recently, there has been a huge emphasis on the importance of sustainability encouraging individuals to evaluate and reflect before they make changes or embark on doing things differently.
An article in the Stylist caught my attention. It encourages people to move to jobs that energise them and not to settle as we typically spend more time with colleagues vs family and friends. The emphasis was on the long game and taking steps to identify what is important to them, what they are good at, and what will get them out of bed.
This got me thinking. This equally applies to the other side of the fence – the organisations that are looking to bring in new talent and the right talent. There is a lot of time spent looking at change for the sake of change. For example, introducing a new recruitment and assessment process because a competitor has a new-fangled approach.
I have seen it work more effectively when an organisation spends the time describing the attributes which will drive success and feed into the strategic aims. Also organisations get a better return on investment by going for the long-term game. By identifying what their employees need to be energised and motivated. As well as the competencies or behaviours needed.
Often there is an over emphasis on time to hire. Assessment to offer ratio leads to going back to the drawing board when they recruit people who can do the job but don’t enjoy doing it. Inevitably, they leave or have a negative impact on others.
Those organisations who opt for sustainable changes are the ones that will thrive. This is all great as a concept but how do we ensure it works at the end of the day?
1. Refresh the interview rather than re-invent
Complementing the usual competency based interview with strengths. One will refresh the interview rather than making drastic changes which can lead to change fatigue for hiring managers
2. Keeping it simple for hiring managers
Using concepts, language and psychological approaches which are alien to hiring managers tend to be mis-used or not used at all. I hear all the time that hiring managers find the CBI robotic, impersonal. There is a desire to get to know their candidates better. #
However, they don’t have time or capacity to learn a completely new way to interview or interpret detailed psychometrics. Instead, they are looking for something which allows them to tap into what really drives the candidate and what strengths will align to the organisation’s goals.
3. Don’t just recruit for strengths
The real results come from organisations who continue to talk to their hires about their strengths. Understanding how they will leverage their strengths to achieve business goals and outcomes.
4. Ensure it is delivering the right results
Measuring conversion ratios at assessment centres or interviews are great. However, it does not have to stop there. The real test is whether assessing people’s strengths has a relationship with performance, strategic goal, financial performance or customer loyalty.
Embedding strengths within the recruitment process has been found to deliver measurable business returns. This includes increased revenues, reduced costs, indicators of future success, increased customer engagement and an engaged workplace.
Engaged employees can make a major difference to key organisational outcomes. Re-engaging your people can help avoid turnover, increase performance and productivity – even with high-performing. Download our guide on Re-engaging with your employees.
