Recruitment – Off the Rack or Custom Made

by Fred Pamenter 

Part 3 of a 4 Part Series

Filling a vacant position without analysis is like buying a suit off the rack. You can identify a candidate that can do the job but they may not be the best fit for the position. Part of the reason that they might not be the best person for the job is because a match between candidate and total recruiting needs hasn’t been made. The individual may have all the necessary “hard” or “core” competencies but critical “soft” competencies have not been identified since sufficient analysis was not done in preparation for the hiring process.

Hard vs. Soft Competencies

Regardless of what type of job vacancy is being filled, we have seen organizations emphasize the core or hard competencies required for a position rather than the soft competencies. These core competencies are such things as education, specific experience, specialized knowledge, etc. These are the critical conditions set out in many organizations’ job descriptions.

Based on research, authors and practitioners question this emphasis on core competencies. They have come to recognize that the core competencies are only a portion of the traits needed for success. The core competencies should be considered as givens, like quality, timeliness and the ability to make a product, in the world of manufacturing.

One author refers to these core competencies as thresholds. They are the minimum required for adequate job performance. However, it is the soft competencies or characteristics that contribute to the difference between average and outstanding performance.

A random review of job advertisements over a period of several weeks showed that the emphasis on core competencies was most prevalent when the vacancy dealt with positions in the fields of finance, engineering and science. In other fields such as human resources and marketing there often was more recognition of the need for soft skills.

Determining the Required Soft Competencies

Prior to commencing a search it is important for the recruiter to work with the hiring manager to determine what she/he sees as the necessary soft competencies. Frequently these have not been given a lot of consideration and it can require a significant degree of prodding to get a manager to think through what soft competencies they really want from a candidate.

In our experience we have found that a number of employment relationships have failed, not because the individual couldn’t perform the technical aspects of the job but because they did not fit with the manager’s concept of how the job should be performed. In effect the individual had the required “hard” competencies but lacked the “soft” competencies that the manager believed were necessary.

Recognizing this phenomenon, we have made an effort to force hiring managers to identify the “soft” competencies that they felt are necessary. To do this effectively, we have found it beneficial to develop a template setting out areas of soft competencies. We then work with the manager to breakdown these various areas into characteristics such as flexibility, initiative, team player, strategist, etc. This work is done before the recruiting process is started. By putting this extra preparation into the process the retention rate for new hires has been enhanced.

Identifying both “hard” and “soft” competencies or characteristics is a start along the path of achieving a better fit and a more successful recruitment. A refinement to this exercise is having the hiring manager weight the importance of each characteristic. This provides the recruiter with a focus for their search and helps avoid presenting candidates that on the surface seem qualified for the vacancy but are objectionable to the manager.

Final Steps in the Analysis

Some years ago, Ichak Adizes wrote a book titled the (Mis)management Crisis. In it he described how an organization needed a number of roles to be performed, producer, integrator, etc

Prior to commencing the recruiting process it is important to determine what role the team needs the new hire to carry out.

Another piece of the analysis is to determine what management style the departing employee exhibited in carrying out her duties. The style that they exhibited will have impacted the team that they led. This will have significant consequence for the new recruit.

These steps will be discussed in our last article in this series.

BIO:

Fred Pamenter is the Managing Partner of PPB&D Consulting. The firm was formed in 1992 to provide human resource expertise to senior management teams in both the public and private sectors. The firm has particular expertise in strategic human resource planning, recruitment management, organization design and performance management. Fred has authored articles on various aspects of human resource management in Canadian and international publications. He can be reached at (416) 626-6980 or by e-mail at ppbdconsulting@aol.com