“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”
–Albert Einstein
When Fortune gave professors Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas a forum to explain their ideas about job descriptions, it did more than spotlight the complications with attracting the right candidates. It became an abattoir for preconceived notions about who really is the perfect fit for a set of responsibilities. Rose and Ogas argue that there is no “average” person, so looking for an applicant with a cookie-cutter set of skills and experience may be hindering the quest for a solid employee. In the era of Big Data, it’s common for HR departments to sift through scads of information by using keywords (among a few other things, such as collecting resumes). The problem with this type of employee quest is that it may be missing the most qualified people for the job—those who do not fit the envisioned mold or lack specific credentials. Rose and Ogas’s book, The End of Average, shows that the “science of the individual” is being successfully applied in medicine and education—and it can be used to enhance your hiring practices.
Changing Tactics
Are you guilty of “degree inflation”? It is important to find an individual who can perform to a certain level, but many have decided that the minimum an applicant needs is a college degree—regardless of the skill set. However, especially with today’s sky-high tuitions, talented individuals may not be pursuing a traditional degree. Programming boot camps and online classes are helping employees enhance their skills—or even change careers.
Rose and Ogas noted that it is possible to tap into a much broader range of talent by examining the job duties needed. Preferably, this is a team effort, with your HR personnel interacting with your tech department to understand what the new hire needs to bring to the company. Do you need a Java developer? Years of experience or credentials may not be the best way to elucidate the candidate’s qualifications, but the kinds of projects certainly would be. This type of hiring practice utilizes the “context principle”, which means that you evaluate an individual based on what she did in a certain environment. Developers with experience building apps for large companies will bring a different set of skills than those who have spent a considerable amount of time with back-end development at a small company. What does the tech manager expect the programmer to do on a daily basis? What essential tasks will the new hire take on? Is your company an established firm with guidelines and rules or a lean startup that is only beginning to navigate the business world? Answering these types of questions when you write your job description can pay off in a shorter recruitment time and a larger, more suitable applicant pool.
Tweak the Hiring Process
Of course, it may be necessary to revise your interview process to better incorporate an individualized approach to hiring. One way to tweak this process is to use ideas from Google. The tech giant uses a plethora of assessment tools, such as structural and behavioral interviews, as well as cognitive assessments, to discover talent. If revising the entire interview process seems to be a challenge, you may want to use the same types of requirement-based questions you asked to write your job description. For example, if your new hire will be a junior programmer who frees up the senior developers to engage in more complex projects, you may want to ask about basic development skills and their interest in learning. What types of projects have they worked on? Were they solo developers or a part of a team? Was the team a large or small one?
Skip the “Average” Partner
Finding the right candidate for the job is anything but simple, and the process can consume time and precious resources. Resolute Technologies has been an industry leader in technical recruiting for almost two decades. We have built a considerable network of industry contacts and a strong, well-vetted candidate pool. Resolute Technology can not only recommend applicants with the right skills and qualifications, but can also find the best fit for your team. Contact us today and discover how your company can benefit from informed, personalized advice.
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