Guy McKanna
People are a major competitive advantage. How often have you hired a ‘poor fit’? We all have. They cost time money and more.
Having the best people improves practice performance.
So how is your recruiting? Is it best, or typical standard industry, practice?
Have you ever asked ‘How do the best practices find their people, the best people?’
We’ve identified that the best practices take a different approach, turning around the recruiting processes.
They ask around for referrals as to who the best people are, the best advisers, the best managers, the best EAs and PAs and so on. In short, they do ‘reference checks’ at the very beginning of the process to identify the best potential candidates – those with a proven track record of delivering – and then entice them to join their practice.
This is in contrast to traditional recruiting where you identify a candidate from a raft of resumes (often obtained from an online job board advert) and then undertake simple reference checks at the end.
Unfortunately, many practice managers – and even external recruiters – are tasked with finding people for a role at low cost and quick pace. They turn to technology to achieve that, and often technology alone.
Using technology, such as online job boards, does not reduce risk. Rather it has increased it! Reputation damage is considered the greatest risk to organisations in our industry– and that is generally damage caused by people. Online job boards use key word matching from candidates’ online profiles and resumes. Matching 10 key words for the role needed to be filled with 10 similar words from hundreds of resumes is hardly digital disruption – and while it is the latest industry practice it is certainly not world’s best practice.
These algorithms cannot identify the best-proven performers for a role in an organisation. Nor can they reference check, personality check or check some one’s track record.
Technology in recruiting has tended to result in a focus on those people who are looking to move, for whatever reason – rather than identifying the best performers that you should be enticing to join your practice.
Practice managers need to turn the process around and identify who has the best track record in the first instance!
You wouldn’t recommend a client invest in a fund based on 10 key words. Rather, you benchmark the performance of various investment offerings as to their track record, check that each delivers what it says it does and assess the professionals behind it via a range of research.
Practices need to reverse their hiring process. Benchmark who is the best at the beginning – identify the proven performers and then approach them – not just those online.
Ask colleagues you trust for referrals. After all, you want the best, not just someone who is currently available.
Also, just because someone worked for a good organisation does not mean they are themselves good.
How often have you worked with others who were troublesome, who were focused on themselves, who didn’t understand what was required – and how this impacted your own work?
Employing such people increases the risks within an organisation, and to its reputation, often requiring even greater risk and marketing teams to counter the damage they cause.
Remember to also ensure the candidate has the ‘right’ cultural fit for your practice. This is key. Too often managers only look at qualifications. They are only part of the person you are hiring.
There are great people out there working hard but are under appreciated by their current employers and want to join good practices.
If you identify two great people and can’t decide – hire both! As they will help you grow your business twice as fast!
Technology alone won’t make your organisation the best. You need the best technology coupled with the best people. It’s that simple.
By Guy McKanna, principal of SUPER Recruiters and co-founder and board member of the Australian Transformation and Turnaround Association.
