By Keith Dawes
A practical task facing every manager is the selection of new staff. There is a tendency to look for someone to replace whoever is leaving (or has left) with a carbon copy pf talent, skills, competencies, ability and temperament and even gender of the previous incumbent.
This seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do and in fact this is often exactly what does happen. The same goes for recruiting for a new position. Find someone that fits our cultural mould. Unfortunately, it is not that easy.
Your first task is to clearly itemise the skills. Competencies, ability level and temperament of the person you are seeking. The closer that you define the required characteristics of this person the more likely are you to be successful in your search. Skills are actual activities that the person performs such as drill or use a theodolite; a word processing package or an autoclave.
The person having a certificate from a recognised educational institution usually confirms these. Competencies are sets of behaviour that are recognised by you and your organisation as being fundamental to a job role. Most jobs have a short list of three or four competencies. With most senior management the competency list can reach 15 or so competencies.
The possession of these competencies is confirmed through behavioural interviewing, where the person is assessed by asking them about what they do in these areas, how often they do it and please provide examples of what you have done.
Competency for middle and senior management is assessed through an Assessment Centre, conducted by experienced organisational psychologists and assessors.
These tend to be costly yet they are the most reliable form of competency assessment we know. As to cost effectiveness, when considering the total remuneration packages of senior managers, it certainly makes sense to be able to reduce false positives when selecting people. Temperament is that characteristic of people that describes their behaviour in terms of emotion and social outlook. This is discerned through personality assessment.
There are many personality tests on the market and each has its own merits and limitations. Most temperamental aspects can be evaluated through personality testing.
To find out what you require, its is prudent to discuss your needs with an independent person and not only with someone from one of the commercial testing houses much like you would with your accountant when considering various investment packages on offer.
Ability testing refers to the determination of how smart a person needs to be. This is a serious decision.
You must decide what type of “smarts” you require. We can evaluate verbal ability, mechanical ability and even emotional ability. We can measure “critical” ability in reading and mathematical work, especially in areas where it really counts. Too much smartness may lead to boredom, too little may lead to headaches for you.
Choosing the right staff is an important managerial skill. The quality of the person that you select is usually determined by the amount of thought and effort you put into the selection process.
* Keith Dawes is a qualified psychologist and management consultant.
Break out box
MAIN POINTS
• Itemise the person’s skills and temperament.
• Decide what type of smarts you need.
• Prepare lists of competencies.
• Discuss your needs with an independent person.
