On competency based hiring
You can’t put a price on competence, but strange as it may sound, we don’t always value the people who are…well, good at their job. This week, we share some insights on how hiring the cream of the crop should start with your internal talent.?
Podcast: Insights on unbiased interviewing from NextRoll
In this week’s Scaling Stories podcast we spoke to Jody Atkins, the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at NextRoll, a marketing technology company delivering products ambitious companies rely on to grow their businesses.
In order to create an equitable experience for candidates, Jody has been an advocate for “competency based interviewing”. Before even looking at a CV, Jody will sit down with the hiring manager and ask: “What are the top competencies that this person needs to be successful in their position?”
Rather than simply choosing which names should be on the interview panel, Jody and team will first and foremost reflect on the skill-set required to properly assess each candidate – from stakeholder management to conflict resolution.
Then they decide on “the most unbiased and even way that we can ask questions”, and produce a prep sheet for each interviewer with examples of what a “great answer looks like…so that everyone who is walking through the door has the same experience and the same chance”.
Jody also extols the virtues of using data in order to build trust with senior leaders and find the right people. That means using tools like LinkedIn Talent Insights to identify a small pool of A-listers, then “really look at the competencies” of successful past hires. “What do we interview for? And are those really the traits that make those people successful?”
Jody adds: “What we were able to do is find consistencies of those soft [skills]. You know – tenacity, resilience, ability to learn initiative. Those are all things that were important that aren’t on a resume.”
Moving forward, a priority for Jody and her team is to focus on internal mobility, with the rollout of a new “role shadowing” program where employees can experience a day in the life of a skilled colleague.
Taking The Next Step
It was great to catch up with Jody and learn how her team at NextRoll isn’t just ‘talking the talk’ on levelling the playing field – it’s taking action with a brilliant new initiative: Taking The Next Step.
In these challenging economic times, Taking The Next Step is a career hub designed to help tech job hunters find their ideal next role.
The website contains lots of useful resources – including this Career Resource Guide and Job Search Tracker – to help job seekers on their journey.
As you’ll see on the website, there are two Taking The Next Step webinars on the following days:
Finally, if you know anyone who’d benefit from speaking to NextRoll’s recruiting team for individualized recruiting and coaching support, their TA team will be holding coaching sessions for the first 40 sign-ups – register here.
Talent Acquisition Trends 2023
Just as Jody talked about the importance of internal mobility, it was interesting to note that Korn Ferry have ranked “the rise of internal mobility” as the number one talent acquisition trend for 2023.
The report includes a number of ways that employers can enhance their internal mobility efforts. For example, you can…
“Invest heavily in internal mobility”
You may recall Dipti Salopek’s Hypergrowth Playbook from way back in the mists of time (2022). Back then, Dipti had some words of advice for companies managing periods of hypergrowth – defined as an annual headcount increase of 50% or more.
A lot has changed since then, as Dipti recently acknowledged:
In this brave new world, Dipti has instead launched the Growth For Success Playbook, and the theme of internal hiring looms large.
“Invest heavily in internal mobility”, Dipti writes. “Once you know who your top talent is, invest in this group through a combination of education (training, conferences etc), exposure (involvement in meetings, mentoring, networks) and/or experience (stretch projects). Not everyone will need or have time for all of them – but being thoughtful about investing in each person will significantly turbocharge this cohort.”
Introducing ‘the OpenAI Mafia’
A good reason to cultivate internal talent is that you never know when your alumni network can help you in the future. Just take OpenAI, the irrepressible force behind ChatGPT and a whole bunch of AI innovations set to transform our planet hitherto known as Earth.
As you can see from this handy chart, anyone who’s ever worked at OpenAI – from senior execs to the window cleaner – is massively in-demand.
Scholars of obscure Wikipedia pages may recall that a similar trend occurred at PayPal, whose own ‘mafia’ went on to create YouTube and run Reddit, among other achievements.
Look after your top talent and who knows – you might one day welcome some of your long-lost stars back into the fold.
Lessons from Formula 1
A high performing team is more than just the sum of its parts, and this Harvard Business Review piece on Formula 1 teams has some lessons for us all on leveraging internal talent.
“I don’t run racing cars,” says Toto Wolff, the team principal for Mercedes-AMG Petronas. “I run people that run racing cars.”
The extract below gives an insight in how Wolff operates in leaving no stone unturned.
Spicy takes
This week’s takes are spicier than Spiceworld, the second studio album by the Spice Girls.
Things you might have missed
Recruiting fail
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. Or maybe not.
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