The Importance of Focusing on Candidate Behaviours Over Skills when Hiring

WHY WE THINK CV's ARE OVERRATED.

This might be an unpopular opinion but we aren't a huge fan of CV's. Pretty unusual for a recruitment business but we believe in behaviours over skills. In the age of automation with AI and ATS systems sweeping thousands of CV's for specific keywords we can't help but think the attempt to speed up a process completely ruins it.

When it comes to hiring, most companies prioritise technical skills and specific qualifications over culture and behaviours. This traditional approach to recruitment can kill the long-term success of your business. Using automation can completely remove the ability to assess behaviours if you're not careful and can have a huge knock on effect not only on hiring but on the long-term success of your team and ultimately your business.

Here’s why shifting the focus to behaviours over skills could transform your hiring process and help you to build a workforce who live your values whilst maximising profits.

• Skills Can Be Taught, Behaviours Are Ingrained

Skills are often teachable with the right learning and development program and resources. Behaviours such as work ethic, attitude, and interpersonal skills are more deeply rooted in an individual’s personality and are much harder to change. By hiring candidates who exhibit the right behaviours, you are more likely to build a team that aligns with your company’s values and culture, meaning they’re more likely to stay, grow, progress and have long term success.

• Predicting Future Performance

Behavioural interviewing techniques and assessments can provide insights into how a person is likely to perform in various situations. For instance, past behaviour is often a reliable predictor of future behaviour. By understanding how a candidate has handled challenges, conflicts, and opportunities in the past, will help you to predict how they would handle those situations in your business. This insight will allow you to make more informed hiring decisions.

• Behavioural Fit Enhances Team Dynamics

A candidate’s ability to work well within a team, communicate effectively, and handle pressure is essential for maintaining a harmonious work environment. People who fit well behaviourally with the team contribute to better collaboration, higher morale, and increased productivity. Assessing behavioural fit during the hiring process helps ensure that new hires will integrate smoothly with the existing team and work well with wider stakeholders.

• Long-Term Potential Over Immediate Proficiency

Candidates who display behaviours such as agility, continuous learning, and resilience are often those who grow and advance quicker. These people may start with a bigger learning curve but tend to surpass their peers in the long run. Focusing on behaviours allows you to spot the candidates with leadership potential and those more likely to have for long-term success within your organization.

• Alignment with Company Culture

A strong company culture is a significant driver of employee satisfaction and retention. Hiring candidates whose behaviours align your core values ensures that they will be more engaged and committed. This alignment reduces turnover rates and helps build a cohesive and motivated workforce.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT BEHAVIOUR FOCUSED HIRING

1. Define Key Behaviours: Identify the behaviours that are most important for success in your organization. This could include traits like collaboration, innovation, integrity, and customer experience focus
2. Build A Behaviours Screening process: adapting your process to access applicants for behaviours before an interview can be as simple as a questionnaire
3. Use Behavioural Interviewing: Incorporate behavioural questions into your interviews. Ask candidates to provide examples of how they have demonstrated specific behaviours
4. Behavioural Assessments: Utilise psychometric and behavioural assessments to gain deeper insights into personality and behavioural tendencies
5. Structured Interviews: Implement structured interviews where each candidate is asked the same set of questions, allowing for more objective comparisons
6. Feedback from Multiple Sources: Gather feedback from multiple interviewers to get a well-rounded view of behaviours.

While technical skills and experience are important, focusing on candidate behaviours can lead to better hiring outcomes and improved long-term workforce planning. By prioritising behaviours such as adaptability, teamwork, and cultural fit, companies can build stronger, more cohesive teams that are poised for long-term success. Implementing a behaviour-focused hiring strategy requires careful planning and execution but can ultimately result in a more dynamic and effective workforce.

Struggling to find the right people for your business?

Need support from behaviour and culture recruitment specialists?

Our expert team can support your business by:

Changing your focus and renewing your hiring processes.

Training your hiring managers and talent acquisition team on how to embed behavioural recruitment into your hiring process

Utilising 20 years’ experience sourcing and interviewing candidates based upon the right behaviours for your business

Behavioural Recruitment Experts

Comment BEHAVIOURS or E-mail [email protected] for more information on how we can support your business.

?

?