The 5 questions you should ask yourself when recruiting

Many people who are involved in recruiting are familiar with the classic 3 areas of discovery: can they do the job, will they do the job and will they fit. In these days of skill shortages and low unemployment, some companies seem to be tempted to gloss over the latter 2 areas just to fill an urgent vacancy. But, there are 2 additional areas that employers should also be considering, especially in the light of how fast many jobs and the work place is changing. It is essential to remember that the selection process is not just about ensuring that a candidate is the right employee for you, but also ensuring that you are the right employer for them. So, here is a summary of the 5 key questions you should be asking yourself when you are hiring someone. Don't cut corners, you'll pay for it later:

• Can they do the job? What can they do right now? Do they have the skills, abilities, personal attributes, and certifications you need? What is the skill set you absolutely need as opposed to what you would like; as long as they assess well in the other 4 areas, then they may be able to quickly close any gap.
• Will they do the job? Just because someone has the capability to do the job, is no guarantee that they will perform for you. What is their motivation for working for you as a company, the type of work you are asking them to do, or this particular job? Do you have very clear expectations of each other that you can both hold to - time, schedule, effort, challenge and demands, package, constraints and work environment?
• Will they learn? This is becoming an increasingly critical component of an employee's make-up. The modern workplace is a place of constant and ongoing change where roles, approaches, and skills need to regularly evolve. This requires an ability and willingness to constantly adapt, but as well as the expectation to learn, do you provide the opportunities and set the permission to learn?
• Will they fit? Fit is largely about cultural alignment with your ways of working and your values. Consider management styles, responsibility and authority, inter and intra-personal skills. Will they make a net contribution to your company getting to where it wants to be?
• What else can they bring? There is always so much more to people than they put on their resume, or they talk about without prompting. Take the time to find out more about them; look for things such as experiences they have had, skills from volunteer work, hobbies or sports, familiarity with parts of the world where you are building a market. Exploration here can give some very useful insights to the real person and act as a cross check for the other 4 question areas.

All of these 5 areas of discovery are in someway interdependent - they are all aspects of the same person, and that person needs to be considered in the context of you, your company, and the opportunity you are offering. See Why would anyone ever work for you? Make sure you consider them all; the potential new employee will appreciate your level of interest and thoroughness; and you will stand a better chance of realising the benefits of the right employee working for the right employer.

If you would like a set of more detailed notes about these 5 elements as well as some general considerations when you are recruiting and interviewing, please let me know and I will send to you. I'd also be interested to know what specific challenges you are having in recruiting, or if you have any pearls of wisdom.

Graham