People Precision | HR, Talent Acquisition, Hiring right articles

September 16, 2014 by Marty Reaume

Are your Talent Acquisition Initiatives Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

Penny wise and pound foolish

For me, this saying is never more relevant than when you are dealing with the talent acquisition process. Investing upfront in the process to ensure the greatest probability of selecting the best candidate is critical.

The cost of unwanted turnover is astounding, and often never really concretely calculated. There are many statistics regarding the typical cost of an employee departure, and it is quite dependent on the position, but a general rule of thumb is .5 – 2x the salary of the incumbent.

Sound too high?

Consider both the direct and indirect costs of employee turnover:

Fundamental direct hiring costs – recruiter, job boards, advertising, interview time, reference checks
Departing employee’s salary, benefits costs, expenses
Indirect costs – onboarding, ramping, training, rescheduling, lost productivity, distraction time/costs, clean up /correcting employee mistakes, customer damage, meeting time dealing with issues, legal/separation fees

HR and Talent Acquisition teams go to great lengths to try to source amazing talent to build their client’s teams, and to compliment this, one of the most effective methods for increasing the chance of selecting the most suitable candidate is including talent assessment tools in the selection process.

Talent Assessment Tools

I have been using candidate assessments for over 15 years, in different industries and environments, and the impact has been considerable. As Chief People Officer in a rapidly growing global technology organization, our team poured over hiring statistics, reviewing turnover by department, by geography, tenure, the interview process, the questionnaires utilized and the interviewing techniques of the hiring managers.

We knew how to hire for skill, but we had to combat the firing for “fit” aspect.

What we needed to do was to infuse a more balanced approach to talent selection with the addition of behavioral, motivational and competency based assessments. Hiring managers became conversant in the language and application of these assessments. We all knew what to look for and how to follow up with the candidate or through reference questions.

We also learned the hard way what happened when we disregarded the information in the assessment…myself included. One of the worst hiring decisions I made for our team could have been prevented if we had paid attention to what the assessment was telling us, rather than being charmed by the candidate. Some of the hiring managers learned the hard way as well – but these mistakes only made us more committed to ensuring candidates completed assessments and they were properly analyzed.

How did we find a solution?

We created a common language in the organization that wasn’t limited to the recruitment process; it spilled over into many of our talent processes including development, succession planning, coaching, performance management and general communication amongst our employees.

Our culture was positively impacted. Global turnover rates dropped from the mid 20’s to a single digit turnover percentage. It wasn’t all because of the use of assessments, but they played an integral role in helping us achieve such an impactful result.

Penny wise or pound foolish?

For the minimal cost of assessments, and what can be learned about your potential new hire from this information, this is a wise upfront choice that I will make any day and skip the pricy turnover alternative.

If you are looking to see a positive change in your talent acquisition process, please reach out to book a free assessment of your processes.

September 9, 2014 by Marty Reaume

Why Paying Unhappy Employees $25K to Quit is Crazy

Guest Post by: Bill J. Bonnstetter

How is one company determining whether unhappy employees want to stick around? Dangling cold, hard cash in their face.

Riot Games, Inc. is offering up to $25,000 for employees to up and leave the company, no questions asked, within 60 days of employment if they are unhappy in their jobs.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based videogame maker believes simply throwing money at the problem and shooing unhappy employees out the door will solve their talent apocalypse.

“Rather than allow mismatches to fester, we want to resolve them quickly,” Riot Games explained in their announcement. “This is good for the company, and good for the professional.”

Riot Games isn’t alone in this farcical proposal.

Their offer comes on the heels of similar enticements by Internet retailers Zappos.com and Amazon.com, which pay employees $2,000 and $5,000, respectively, if they opt to quit.

Problem is, these pay-to-quit strategies aren’t solving anything.

If Riot Games is willing to pay a sum commensurate to someone’s annual salary just to get rid of them, how much would they be willing to pay someone to ensure they’re a proper fit from the onset?

Riot Games is almost guaranteed to see a revolving door of employees deciding a sudden $25,000 windfall is worthier than being locked into a game of chicken, where each player — employee or employer — is waiting to see who will act first.

There are better ways to ensure people aren’t just sticking around for a paycheck.

Regrettably, Riot Games is treating the symptom and not the cause, and interestingly, could have the right person in their doors but merely in the wrong position.

If only Riot Games took the time to determine a proper fit from the get go — hiring shouldn’t be a personality contest — or worked with employees to see where their talents could be put to better use.

Hiring right the first time through a benchmark approach, and using validated assessments, is an inexpensive way to achieve maximum performance.

As we say here at TTI: If the job could talk, it would explain precisely what was necessary to achieve superior performance. We could ask it to tell us about the:

Knowledge a person needs
Personal attributes required to drive success
Rewards for superior performance
Hard skills vital for the job
Behaviors necessary to perform at peak levels
Intrinsic motivators

Because if companies like Riot Games don’t have a plan in place to bring in the right people who are energized and dedicated from Day 1, then they are simply throwing money out the window.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill J. Bonnstetter is chairman of TTI Success Insights and founder and chairman of Target Training International. He is considered one of the pioneers in the assessment industry because of his significant contributions to the research and study of human behavior. @bbonnstetter

September 2, 2014 by Marty Reaume

Achieving your Strategic Plans with Superior Talent

In creating your company’s strategic plan, you’re familiar with three essential stages: Where are we now? Where are we going? How will we get there?

Guest Post by: Adam Wong

The first two stages are undoubtedly completed with key stakeholders hunkered down in your company’s conference room. For “Where are we now?” you connect your mission statement to your core values, then begin your SWOT analysis.

As you move into “Where are we going,” you are forced to identify your sustainable competitive advantage — what makes you unique — and from that births a vision statement that vividly idealizes your desired outcome. You now know who you are and what you want, but how are you going to get there and outshine your competition along the way?

It’s at the third stage of a strategic plan where specific activities must be identified to help you achieve your vision, and these activities are entrenched in the people who make up your organization. “How will we get there?” could be interchanged with “Who is going to take us there?” The people who make up your organization are the ones actively working within your finances, your customers and your operations. So, if you don’t have the right people in the positions you’ll need, how are you going to achieve your strategic goals and realize your vision?

Clearly defined positions are crucial for the success of all personnel, and this is where TTI Success Insights’ job benchmarking assessments make it easy for you to identify qualities in your current employees and desired outcomes in their unique positions.

With a product such as TriMetrix®, you can benchmark each position to identify the behaviors, motivators, acumen and competencies required for success in that position. Then, you can match the employee to his or her job and straightforwardly identify the gaps between the demands of the job and your employee’s capacity to be successful in his or her position. Once you have the right people in place, you’ll be able to outshine your competition simply by fulfilling your strategic plan.

Read our success stories about other companies around the world that have been using TTI Success Insights employment assessments to outshine their competition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Wong is Director of Network Development for TTI Success Insights, driving excellence through careful thought and attention to detail, consistently anticipating the needs of all customers. He serves as an integral member of the product development team, creating new products and improving existing tools to better support the company. @TTISI_Adam

August 26, 2014 by Marty Reaume

How to Hire and Retain Top Talent

Guest Post by: Favor Larson

When you are recruiting talent for an open position, whether it’s new to the organization or you are replacing a former employee, where does your recruitment strategy end?

Is it the day the candidate accepts the position? The day he or she begins employment? For all intents and purposes, recruitment would end at the time the new talent is acquired; however, is this truly the best recruitment strategy?

I’d contend that you could experience two versions of the same hire. One version, less successful, by abandoning this new hire on the day of employment, and a second version, more successful and poised for internal growth, by instituting an onboarding program that begins at discovery and continues to engage your new hire in his or her role in the company.

Let’s say you played by all of our talent acquisition rules. You properly benchmarked a job enlisting the aid of subject matter experts who were able to identify the position’s key account-abilities and complete a job report for which to screen candidates. All qualified candidates took talent reports, and when placed up against the benchmark, those who were deemed a match were called in for rounds of interviews. You used the suggested interview questions to get to know each of the qualified candidates with the Behaviors (DISC), Motivators and soft skills necessary to excel at the job. In the end, you weighed all of the information you had gathered throughout the process, and you offered the position to the candidate best suited for the job.

Without question, the best possible candidate has been recruited for your open position. But without a plan for your new employee’s first year, how can you ensure his or her success and make the most of your new employee’s talents for your organization? This plan may include a job related development binder that details all objectives and expectations for the employee, thus reducing confusion about essential job functions. It may also include determining what skills are most critical for the employee’s success, and then providing formal training with clearly communicated expectations and benchmarks.

Other elements of a recruitment plan that are less formal but essential are simply ensuring that the employee’s workstation is ready; that all HR paperwork is delivered and filed properly; scheduling meetings with key company representatives and peers; creating opportunities to better understand the culture of the organization; and holding monthly one-on-one check-in meetings to maintain focus and adjust priorities as needed.

This is where you can experience two versions of the same hire. The same candidate with those benchmarked ehaviors (DISC), Motivators and soft skills will not be as successful in your organization as the one who has the opportunity to engage in your company’s onboarding program. If you’re ready to launch a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy with a solid onboarding program, contact your TTI-certified associate, or call us at (800) 869-6908 or (480) 443-1077.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Favor Larson is Senior Business Services Consultant for TTI Success Insights, striving to improve the quality of the workplace through the application of assessments in businesses using an in depth knowledge of behaviors, motivators, personal skills, emotional intelligence and acumen. @TTISI_Favor

August 19, 2014 by Marty Reaume

Hiring (not Firing) for Soft Skills

Guest Post by: Cindy Rosser

When you’re in the process of reviewing potential candidates, it’s easy to fall prey to common biases, especially when you rely on resumes and interviews.

According to a study by Michigan State University, employment interviews are only 14% accurate, and yet 90% of all hiring decisions are made from interviews.

So how do you select the best candidate to serve your company and ensure tangible results that elevate your brand and mission as an organization?

Some of the most commonly overlooked factors in the hiring process are a candidate’s competencies, or soft skills. For many jobs, soft skills are as important as technical skills in producing superior performance. In fact, soft skills are often transferable to different jobs, whereas technical skills are usually more specific.

Let’s say a candidate you’re considering has been using your CRM system for most of her career. In the short term, you may be confident that she understands the functionality of the system. Perhaps even she’s developed mastery of the system. She can run a query, invoice a customer and import/export data. However, do you know if she has developed personal accountability, a measure of the capacity to be answerable for personal actions?

Does her problem solving ability require further development as she anticipates, analyzes, diagnoses and resolves problems? What about her flexibility? How agile will she be in adapting to change if the company were to switch CRM systems, and does she posses the initiative in learning and implementing new technologies that comes from having the well developed skill of continuous learning?

By identifying the soft skills that will make a person excel in a specific position within your company, you will help ensure proper job fit. Your employee will shine, and when she shines, that resonates throughout the organization, and your customers will see it too.

To read more about our selection process click here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cindy Rosser is a Solutions Consultant at TTI Success Insights, dedicated to serving the company’s network of independent coaches, consultants, speakers and trainers.

Are your Talent Acquisition Initiatives Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?