By Ian Kinnery, business and scale up coach
Hiring well is notoriously difficult. In my experience, it often goes wrong right at the very beginning.
Too often, we simply don’t have enough clarity about what we are looking for, which makes it almost impossible to make a good decision.
One of the first questions I ask clients is to define what the job is. Not the job title – that’s largely meaningless – but what outcomes the role should deliver for the business when it is done well.
I remember one client telling me they needed to recruit a receptionist. When I asked them what the job actually was, I suggested that an ansaphone could fulfil the requirement and save them tens of thousands of pounds.
That was the moment they realised they didn’t really understand what the job was.
When they stopped to think about it properly, they redefined the role as someone who would take care of incoming callers, make them feel welcome and valued, deal with their needs and connect them with the right person to help them.
Once they understood that, they could start building a much more accurate “spec sheet” of the ideal person.
The ‘spec sheet’, as I call it, has two fundamental parts.
The first part focuses on the skills and attributes needed to perform well in the job.
The second part focuses on cultural fit – in other words, the values and personal attributes that will enhance the team’s collective superpower.
Once you are clear on both, you know exactly what you are looking for. And when you know exactly what you are looking for, you have a far better chance of finding the right person.
kinnery.co.uk