Why Job Interviews Miss The Mark And What To Do About It

The new hire that is no longer in place after a couple months is a frequent occurrence. Every bad hiring instance can be costly for the organization and the individual. Why then does the phenomenon of bad hires persist?

Here are some thoughts and potential solutions.

Role Fit is the goal

The objective should be to get the right person, in the right role under the right style of leadership in an empowering environment.

Jobs have different “personalities”. Guidance counsellors and Majors in a war zone are expected to exhibit different behavioural patterns. Diagnostic technicians in high stakes medical environments are likely to display different work behaviours than entertainment coordinators at a resort hotel.

As individuals, while we may use a variety of behavioural tools, we tend to be more comfortable using some. Other behavioural competencies require more energy and focus from us. We might be able to display the behaviours, but they wear us out more quickly than others. You come alive as an MC but nod off when double-checking statistical tables.

In the quest for an ideal fit, the approach should be to hire individuals who are more comfortable exhibiting the desired behaviours.

Job Interviews

Some organizations place too much reliance on the interviewing process to finalize the selection process. At the best of times, it must be challenging to discern the behavioural preferences of an individual in the usual time allotted for an interview.

This is compounded by the fact that candidates are being coached and may have anticipated the image that they need to display to be considered favourably.

One way to enhance the interviewing process is to incorporate a technique called?Behavioural?Interviewing.?The technique involves inviting the candidate to cite examples of how they actually handled a number of carefully selected situations. The principle is that the best predictor of future behaviour is past action.

Best Practice

Even with the enhancement, interviews are inadequate as a standalone selection process. The recommendation is to include the use of behavioural DNA assessments in the selection process. Sophisticated behavioural analyses (psychometric assessments) provide important insights into areas in which applicants will need more or less energy to get given tasks done.

The process should start with the creation of?Ideal Job Templates.?These templates represent a selection of behavioural competencies that are critical to the effective performance of the role. Each candidate is then assessed against the Ideal Job Template for alignment as part of the overall diagnostic report.

One of the great benefits of psychometric assessment is the fact that it provides employers with a guide as to how to get best results from new hires. It can take months of trial and error until a new hire finally settles in and performs at their best. A sophisticated behavioural profile equips employers and new hires with information to enhance performance from the first day at work.

The reports serve as a powerful user manual for employer and employee! They are of great value in guiding behaviour modification. They are compasses that direct the pathways to success.

NOTE: It is useful to note that Extended DISC? assessments use a multi-phrase questionnaire that makes it extremely difficult to game the system and produce results that you deem to be desirable. This is in response to expressed concern that dishonest candidates may produce fake results.

Psychometric testing adds more value

There is another important consideration.

Best practice in performance coaching advises individuals to adopt certain “roles” that are best suited to achieving desired results in given situations. “Act as if...” becomes the key philosophy. Your domestic issues should not be manifested at work. Act as if all is well.

This kind of role playing is a key to successful performance on the job! Organizations expend much effort in getting team members to play appropriate roles when at work.

What does this mean?

Organizations that use psychometric testing as an aid in the recruitment and selection process are likely to select individuals who are more comfortable displaying the behavioural preferences that are desired in the role. There is also greater clarity for both employer and employee as to the nature of the desired behaviours.

Job seekers are also well advised to seek roles that suit their behavioural styles.

Organizations that fail to use sophisticated psychological assessment tools are left to rely on intuition and periods of feeling out new hires before creating the conditions that maximize their performance.

Trevor E S Smith

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