Should you recruit on achievements or on attitude? At adVeci we believe this is a dilemma of the past. Old-school recruiters love this mumbo jumbo. But increasing your chances to make the right hire requires a more effective, balanced and reliable selection process.
Here is why.
- Achievements are, by definition, a thing of the past. Whilst some recruiters might be impressed by what a candidate has done in the past, or by the positions they have held in the past, these results cannot reliably be extrapolated to a similar role in a new company, culture or business area.
- Attitude is easy to fake. Countless candidates manage to appear keen and driven during the selection process and might remain so during their trial period. The real challenge consists in “guestimating” the expected behavior of the candidate once their trial period is confirmed. And “guestimating” is definitely not a reliable selection method.
So, what can be done to increase the chances of picking the right candidate? At adVeci, we use a balanced process: whilst we do examine a candidate’s past numeric performance and his/her behavior, we particularly investigate their competencies, potential, and resilience.
- Competence analysis provides us with a factual, unquestionable picture of a candidate’s ability to master a job’s specific technical dimensions. As an example, specialization in the financial industry has grown tremendously: whilst 5 years ago a former external audit manager might have filled a compliance manager’s role without too much trouble, regulatory pressure has become so complex that this extrapolation should now be questioned.
- Potential exploration is one of our key selection factors. Potential does not express what the candidate has achieved in the past, but what they could potentially achieve in the future. This requires investigating many aspects of a candidate’s skills and personality, on and off their past jobs. The question we want to answer is not one, but two: (1) Can the candidate do the job that is being offered? (2) What other jobs could he or she be doing at the hiring company?
- Resilience testing helps us understand whether the candidate will fit his or her new role and environment. And most importantly, for how long. The times of linear careers are long gone, and so are the times of stable environments. As volatility and uncertainty rule the business world, we try hard to assess a candidate’s ability to perform and thrive beyond the short term.
Feel free to reach out to us directly should you want a live debate, or try working with us !
