One organisational psychologist says there are a number of things holding HR back from finding the perfect fit
Employers who are planning to grow their workforce in 2018 may want to revisit their recruitment strategies after one industry expert warned of some common mistakes which often stand in the way of long-term success.
“There are a few mistakes that people sometimes fall prey to,” says Pip Turner, a registered industrial and organisational psychologist who recently joined the team at K3 Consulting.
“The first one would be not conducting a strength analysis or a SWOT analysis on their current teams before they start hiring new people or replacing somebody who’s leaving.”
According to Turner, organisations need to identify the critical capabilities of a given team as well as personality and behavioural traits so they can understand key strengths and how to leverage them while also figuring out where they may need to fill some gaps.
“The other mistake people tend to make is they don’t have a clear or accurate idea about the practical experience a potential candidate might need in order to perform their job effectively and to grow that team and the business,” Turner tells HRD.
“That should be based on an analysis of both current and anticipated needs – not just that specific vacancy as it comes up,” she continues. “It needs to be a really genuine consideration of what that employee will need to be able to do in order to fit their success profile in that position.”
Finally, Turner says employers sometimes fail to consider whether a candidate would fit in with the organisational culture and values or they don’t assess fit in the most objective way possible.
“You can investigate that to an extent through reference checks or structured behavioural interviews but you’d have to be very experienced in interviewing to truly get a handle on whether or not an individual would share your mission and your values and your goals,” she says.
Instead, Turner encourages organisations to use personality assessments to gain more detailed and accurate insight into how likely a person is to fit within the organisations culture.
“Discussions around a candidate’s personality and culture fit are always going to be more susceptible to bias – whether that’s unconscious or otherwise – and there is a temptation to listen to your gut feeling but that’s not always going to give you an accurate measure about how well they’ll align with your values,” she tells HRD.
“I think the best thing you can do is have an extremely clear view of what your organisational values are ahead of time, be able to articulate those and then have some way of objectively measuring an individual’s personality and fit with your current culture through an assessment or evaluation which will measure their traits, their talent, their motives and their preferred working environment.
“There are a few mistakes that people sometimes fall prey to,” says Pip Turner, a registered industrial and organisational psychologist who recently joined the team at K3 Consulting.
“The first one would be not conducting a strength analysis or a SWOT analysis on their current teams before they start hiring new people or replacing somebody who’s leaving.”
According to Turner, organisations need to identify the critical capabilities of a given team as well as personality and behavioural traits so they can understand key strengths and how to leverage them while also figuring out where they may need to fill some gaps.
“The other mistake people tend to make is they don’t have a clear or accurate idea about the practical experience a potential candidate might need in order to perform their job effectively and to grow that team and the business,” Turner tells HRD.
“That should be based on an analysis of both current and anticipated needs – not just that specific vacancy as it comes up,” she continues. “It needs to be a really genuine consideration of what that employee will need to be able to do in order to fit their success profile in that position.”
Finally, Turner says employers sometimes fail to consider whether a candidate would fit in with the organisational culture and values or they don’t assess fit in the most objective way possible.
“You can investigate that to an extent through reference checks or structured behavioural interviews but you’d have to be very experienced in interviewing to truly get a handle on whether or not an individual would share your mission and your values and your goals,” she says.
Instead, Turner encourages organisations to use personality assessments to gain more detailed and accurate insight into how likely a person is to fit within the organisations culture.
“Discussions around a candidate’s personality and culture fit are always going to be more susceptible to bias – whether that’s unconscious or otherwise – and there is a temptation to listen to your gut feeling but that’s not always going to give you an accurate measure about how well they’ll align with your values,” she tells HRD.
“I think the best thing you can do is have an extremely clear view of what your organisational values are ahead of time, be able to articulate those and then have some way of objectively measuring an individual’s personality and fit with your current culture through an assessment or evaluation which will measure their traits, their talent, their motives and their preferred working environment.