Why job benchmarking is important for reducing the bad hire blues
As a Hiring or HR Manager, you know perfectly well the significant cost that a bad hire can have on business. As reported in The Australian, according to the Harvard Business Review, 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions and 45% of bad hires are attributed to poor screening processes. Not to mention the intangible impacts a bad hire can have on lost productivity, client relationships, staff morale or worse, brand reputation.
Psychometric testing has been used for decades to aid in the final selection of an ideal candidate. The assessments’ value is to paint a complete picture of a candidate’s potential and understand the persons work style, behaviours, motivations and values. But did you know that psychometric testing, specifically workstyle assessments, can also help you minimise the chances of a bad hire by mapping the role’s needs from the outset?
Titan Recruitment uses a range of workstyle tools that help with job benchmarking including Job Analysis and Job Survey assessments. These define the position’s duties and responsibilities and establish benchmarks for the behavioural requirements. Carrying out this process can guide the interview and selection process by identifying the role’s distinct needs and what the ‘best match’ candidate to fill those shoes resembles.
Ana Galovic who administers and interprets the psychometric assessments at Titan Recruitment says job benchmarking is a crucial step in starting the search for the ideal person, and says, “Start with what is required of the role then define who will fit the bill.”
“The key steps to breaking down a good, effective job description is outlining the competencies and having a measurement for those competencies. The workstyle assessment tools help you to drill down the employer’s needs, wants and desires for the role,” says Galovic.
To put these steps into perspective, Galovic frames an analogy, “Let’s take two candidates for a Head of Department role; both are successful in their careers with a strong record of achievement. Yet, their leadership approach is likely to be different,” she explains. “Does the position call for a leader with a high level of emotional intelligence to manage a diverse team, or someone who is visionary to steer the company through growth or change? This is where your needs, wants and desires make all the difference.”
Needs – these are the skills essential to success; it’s the job-specific key criteria that are not negotiable. Needs would include the essential technical and hard skills along with the soft skills that are vital to getting the job done within a company’s environment and culture.
Example: You’re recruiting a Mechanical Engineer; to measure technical ability candidates must be relevant degree-qualified. If the role you are filling is a consultancy position, your measurement of their technical ability will extend to the level of experience (usually determined by the number of years they have been in the industry). Additional to that, a consultant position usually requires attributes like strong communication and negotiation skills.
Wants – these are supplementary competencies that complement the role, and while not absolute must-haves, candidates would be viewed favourably, should they have them.
Example: Take the same Mechanical Engineer role, in addition to a degree qualification you may want someone who graduated with honours or had a consistently high GPA, however, this is not a deal-breaker (as it’s not an essential need to do the job). Instead, the candidate may bring some other experience or transferable skills to the table on your wants list.
Desires – these are the ‘nice to have’ skills broken down into needs: the candidate can do the job, and is equipped with the hard and soft skills but wouldn’t it be great if they could also do X and Y.
Example: The ideal candidate for the Mechanical Engineer role could be someone who has additional qualifications such as in project management or has experience working on similar projects or companies overseas.
Following the job benchmarking process or using proprietary workstyle assessments aids in pinpointing the precise requirements for the role and helps customise the job’s task list and person brief specific to the organisation needs. In our business, the workstyle assessments have proven accurate to the way our people work and for ensuring any new team member is culturally aligned to the company vision and what we want to achieve collectively.
How job benchmarking can help you in your recruitment process:
Helps guide the selection process
Lessens a prolonged and costly hiring process
Reduces the chances of a bad-hire (which means fewer (or eliminates) employee performance issues and employee attrition)
Keeps your brand reputation intact
Helps with forecasting, planning and budgets
Here you have it, the development of a rock-solid, customised job description will weigh the odds in your favour for finding the best-fit candidate and minimise the blues that come with bad hiring decisions.
