To Find the Right Talent – You Have to Know What You Need.

An organisation needs to know what it is, where it’s going and how to reach it, before it can find the people to get it there.

How many times have you heard “our people are our greatest asset”?? 

I know I’ve lost count. All types of companies and in every country in which I’ve worked. It’s become the ultimate motherhood statement ). It suffers from lack of impact for overuse.

While in many cases the sentiment is genuine and heartfelt, it is so hackneyed these days that you can hear the eyes in the room rolling the moment it is uttered. And it can have the effect of switching off the people at whom it’s aimed to any subsequent message. Overuse leads to loss of currency – and complete lack of cut-through.

Beyond being raised to cliché status though, the “greatest asset” philosophy is given lie in many organisations by the manner in which they go about identifying, attracting and retaining those very assets. Frankly, the process of recruiting key people is often very poorly done and at complete odds with the company’s stated value of its people.

Don’t get me wrong. I get it – wading through a tsunami of resumes is tedious. This is especially so when online job advertising attracts so many, clearly unsuitable candidates who simply seem to hit “Apply” to everything.

Time is often of the essence. That key project needs someone NOW! Internal resources have either too many recruitment tasks underway at once or have “day jobs” in the operations of the business. Recruiting is an essential evil, but not a core activity. 

“We’ll look after them once we get them, though …’.

Right.

Herein lies the point. If in seeking a high-quality asset that you will eventually spend a great deal more time, money and effort on nurturing and developing, surely the front end of that process is worthy of proper rigour. Sadly, a growing number of organisations are erring on the side of process efficiency over depth of enquiry (see my previous article on online recruiting firewalls), leaving due diligence to the bitter end – and then only as a “box ticking” reference check exercise, which is delegated to a junior staff member.

Really? Would your company look for a new piece of plant the same way? 

It’s a bit like sending someone out to pick up a brochure on the required equipment from each potential provider, having a chat to the sales executives over the phone, getting prices and then (only after picking the one with the best brochure) quickly looking online for reviews that confirm your pre-determined decision before signing the purchase order. Seriously.

Just as one would for such a major capital purchase, recruitment of key people needs to be diligent, nuanced and analytical and driven by a detailed requirements definition. What is being sought needs to be clear – right from the start. And no, a position description does not constitute a specification for the right person.

If we’re serious about finding those “greatest assets” that will enhance the capability, culture and employer brand of the organisation then we need to have a really good idea of all of the following:

1.    Position Description – what does this person need to do once they get here? Not sufficient on its own, but clearly a key requirement;

2.    Environment Description – What is the context in which this person will have to operate – clients and key stakeholders, team, corporate direction and culture, contractual arrangements, industry and market environment?;

3.    Person Capability – to do what the role calls for, what skills, qualifications and experience do they need, technical and otherwise?;

4.    Person Capacity – who is the right person? How do they go about getting done what needs done? This isn’t about technical capability – this is inherent personal style, EQ and ethos;

5.    Future State – where is this role going to take the company? This should be at the crux of the whole selection process. No key role should be a “like for like” replacement. The company simply won’t be the same place that the previous incumbent joined – for better or worse. The new person must be a fit for the company of “now”, with the capability to help make it the company of “next”.

All of this may seem a bit self-evident – and there’s the danger.  Too often, hiring managers will “wing it”, knowing all of the above (they think) and believing they will be able to apply all of those considerations at hiring time. 

I strongly believe that the really good companies do far more than just “know”. They invest heavily in the process of finding their next talent asset acquisition – often engaging third parties to assist in the analysis, not just the search. They seriously assess the status if the business, the clients, the market and their own internal dynamics, covering all five of the factors above. Only once they have clearly and satisfactorily defined these elements do they proceed to identifying and assessing potential candidates. 

This level of introspection, analysis and forward thinking vastly improves the ability of a hiring organisation to bring on board just the right person for that role at that point in time. It facilitates a proper due diligence. It defines clearly what we’re looking for and informs rigorous enquiry and verification of the candidates’ suitability.

It also adds significant value to the organisaation as the search for a new team member becomes a punctuation point that allows for a moment of reassessment and recalibration of the business.

All of this suggests a willingness to do the hard yards to be sure of an optimum outcome – for both parties. 

If people truly are your organisation’s greatest asset, can it afford to do any less to get the right ones?

www.azimuthexecutive.com

Mark Nicholas is the Managing Partner of Azimuth Executive Resources and a veteran of the international Executive Search profession.