By Jeannette Seibly, Talent Advisor/Leadership Results Coach
Learning to play and master a game of chess is not easy. There are many strategies to learn.
There are thousands of patterns to absorb. But once you have gained this knowledge, you can win most of your games.
The same is true for hiring top talent! The selection process requires learning the basics and following them. Otherwise, one wrong selection or hiring move (i.e, promoting a top salesperson (or anyone) into a boss/leadership role before they are ready) can cost you the game: with the company, new clients, top talent, quality products/services, and a healthy bottom line at risk.
A pawn is a new hire who has moved across the board, ready to promote to the crucial piece needed to support your business.
Indeed, no employee wants to feel like a sacrificial pawn. When supported and positioned correctly, your employees can be crucial players in the organization, and when you lead them across the board, they can become the perfect addition you needed for your business.
Avoiding a hiring process “checkmate” involves strategic moves to ensure fairness, reduce biases, and attract the right candidates.
Here are some practical steps:
Design a Strategic Job Fit Selection Process. Like setting up the chessboard, the key is keeping each component (interviews, assessments, and due diligence) simple and structured. Any changes must align with short-term and long-term goals. A well-thought-out system ensures your hiring, job transfers, and job promotions are done to support the company, employees, products/services, and clients.
Use appropriate software (e.g., applicant tracking and due diligence), analytical tools (qualified job fit and core value assessments), and structured interview questions to ensure you’re collecting objective and valid data. A structured and legal process is required to attract and retain top talent while minimizing costly biases and ensuring fairness.
Rework Job Descriptions: Experiment with job listing wording and remove gender-associated adjectives. This promotes inclusivity and attracts a diverse pool of applicants. Since job descriptions are the basis for job postings and online job ads, this is critical to attract those looking. Use your “sales and marketing” department to write the job posting ads for social media and other postings.
Like a game of chess, you need to think several moves ahead. Don’t move too fast. Look at all surrounding pieces to ensure your next move is correct.
Follow the Job Fit Triad: Interview, Assessments, and Due Diligence (each should account for 1/3 of the hiring/selection decision). In our haste or infrequency of hiring, these are frequently overlooked. As a result, we rely on intuitive hiring which results in high turnover, miscommunication, and straying customers.
Instead, use objective data to assess the job candidates’ skills, competencies, and experience (aka job fit). Otherwise, each move could hurt the company (e.g., ignoring data from job fit assessments, using assessments not intended for pre-employment and selection purposes, or relying solely on an interview to make your hiring decisions).
Teach your hiring bosses the rules of the game. Having the right employee in the right position can provide support, defense, and protection to win when they know the right moves.
Like in chess, players appreciate knowing the rules and expectations. A well-structured process informs hiring managers and provides candidates with positive experiences. The purpose is to collect good, objective data by asking job-related interview questions, using assessments as designed, and conducting thorough due diligence.
Do not forget! How we treat job candidates can positively or negatively impact the company now and in the future! If you make the wrong move by ghosting candidates, failing to follow up and follow through, or winging it anywhere during the selection process, checkmate!
Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor/Leadership Results Coach with over 31 years of practical experience guiding leaders and bosses to improve their hiring, coaching, and managing practices and produce amazing results! And yes, achieving business success always starts with having the right people in the right jobs! She has been an Authorized PXT Select® Partner for over 32 years. Contact Jeannette to learn more about these state-of-the-art job-fit assessment tools or how to coach and manage your people to achieve incredible results. Don’t forget to grab her book, Hire Amazing Employees: How to Increase Retention, Revenues, and Results!” (an international Amazon Best Seller).
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