The Talent War: Reduce Risk in Hiring by Discovering the Best Candidate

Employers need to be aware of the talent war that is costing companies thousands of dollars because they are hiring the wrong individuals to key positions.

The central issue is that companies focus on obvious threats such viruses, cybersecurity, and data leaks that could be financially costly. However, they do not focus on hiring decisions that are equally damaging.

This open-door policy needs to be addressed to reduce risk in hiring. Where do you start? By understanding how to align candidates with the right positions in your company.

When you establish a process for aligning these candidates with the right fit, you will be able to discover the best candidate for the position. Without a process, though, your company is exposed to risk in the war for quality workers.

Battle Strategy No. 1: Establish the Hiring Process

ZERORISK HR has researched numerous companies who are looking for the right employees, but cannot find, hire, or retain these individuals. Why is this? It’s likely because they lack a process, or their team is not executing the process.

- The process begins with an internal review of knowing which behaviors and competencies lead to success in the role that you are hiring for.

If you do not establish the baseline for what an ideal candidate looks like, you will be unable to match a candidate to the assessment of this position.

To reduce risk in hiring, you also need to establish which competencies lead to failure. This will allow you to objectively remove candidates from the hiring process to ensure that you do not hire an individual who will disrupt your organization or hurt productivity on their team.

- Secondly, your hiring managers need to be trained on how to conduct a behavioral interview. This provides structure to the interview process by identifying the behaviors of a particular candidate that match the ideal persona.

Without understanding how to conduct this interview and then implementing the process, your company is exposed to risk by using outdated interview techniques that allow a candidate to mislead interviewers.

- Third, your company needs to assess and measure company culture. Then, when you identify a candidate who is a good fit for your culture, you can talk to company leaders to determine the best fit for this individual.

If there is not a current opening, then you have the opportunity to build a relationship with this candidate to stay in touch for the next opening.

Overall, once you confirm that a candidate is a good fit for your company culture, you need to keep the relationship going. In the talent war, there is an opportunity cost of (a) losing out on good talent and (b) allowing him or her to join a competitor. When you find a candidate who fits your company, be sure to maintain the relationship.

Battle Strategy No. 2: Understand the Importance of Behavioral Interviews

The key element of establishing the hiring process is understanding the importance of a behavioral interview.

ZERORISK HR believes that past behavior is a predictor of future behavior in a similar context in your company. That is why it’s vital in the talent war to know which competencies lead to success and failure in your company.

When you establish the competencies you are looking for in a candidate, your hiring managers can conduct a proper behavioral interview to obtain evidence about the candidate’s past behavior to see if this aligns with the competencies that were identified for the role.

Then, using this information about past behavior, you can determine whether the candidate’s behavior matches the position they are applying for.

If a candidate exhibits the behaviors in specific circumstances that match the ideal candidate assessment, you can advance this individual in the hiring process. However, if the candidate exhibits behavior that clearly does not match, you can make an appropriate decision using objective, measurable evidence.

This process is critical to reducing risk in hiring. HR leaders need to take responsibility for hiring the right talent, providing hiring managers with the tools to:

• Become effective interviewers to benefit and protect the overall company.

• Understand the best behavioral interview questions that target key competencies.

• Use effective primary and secondary probing questions to gather evidence about past behavior.

This will set your company up for success by providing your team with a battle plan and the tools they will need to make strategic decisions in the talent war.

Battle Strategy No. 3: Make the Best Hiring Decision When the plan for aligning candidates with the position is executed, your team is ready to make the best hiring decision.

The goal is to place the right candidate in the right position to increase retention, productivity, and engagement, which increases profitability. Without executing the process, though, your company is risking turnover, costly errors, disengagement, a decline in productivity, and decreased profitability.

While other companies are struggling to hire and retain top talent, your company has the opportunity to increase profitability in the talent war by making informed hiring decisions. Simply stated, the benefits of hiring and retaining the best candidates far outweigh the costs of exposing your company to vulnerabilities.

For assistance in understanding how to start or execute the process of aligning candidates to the right position, consider the ZERORISK Hiring System. This advanced program will give your hiring managers the tools to assess whether candidates match key competencies, conduct a proper behavioral interview, and make informed hiring decisions to reduce risk in hiring.