You May Ask Yourself..............How do I partner with my client in choosing the right candidate and selecting the right assessment parameters?
1) Responsibility for selecting the tool & the outcomes. Ultimately it is the Hiring Manager’s responsibility to determine what right looks like in that department and what minimal acceptable performance is – a recruiter can not do this, nor can the internal HR department. It is the Hiring Manager, their boss, and the key stake holders who are accountable for the performance and the bottom line and it is their job to document this in the job specification, then it is the recruiters’ job to go find the right fit. If the benchmark or specs change for one, it must change for all – or you could be liable for discrimination.
2) Benchmarking Existing Performers. Between *9-11peak performers (*as rated by actual measurable results, not by how the manager ‘feels’) in a specific role are assessed and a benchmark is built. In some companies where the department is rather large they also benchmark another group, they take 9-11 below average performers and assess them and then 9-11 middle of the road performers and assess them. Once the assessments are scored and ranked in a grid like manner a validated benchmark is built. When a company needs to hire peak they use the peak benchmark, when they are hiring average (for what ever reason) then they use the average benchmark.
3) Comprehensive Position Requirements Benchmark. This initial process of building a validated hiring benchmark and is often used when a company has had bad experiences hiring, or when a firm is hiring for a newly created position, or when a company is undergoing a corporate transformation, or under new leadership. Typically, an outside facilitator, preferably you, leads this conversation. It is best when this is done with 3 key decision makers or stake holders that are directly impacted by the success or failure of this hire. Once the benchmark is created (key specific measurable accountabilities, core functions, competencies, behaviors, traits, values, etc.) and the selection criteria is ranked & prioritized in advance, each stake holder then takes a job report assessment and creates their vision of ideal candidate via an assessment. The best assessment I have seen for this ranks 23 competencies, core motivational values, work behaviors, and personal trainability/coach-ability. The convergence of these three reports creates the validated measurable benchmark which all candidates are ranked and compared against.
