Bring me my people!

Your organisation is unique, your culture is yours alone, the way your hire people should be too.

Who are the right people for your organisation? Beyond the basic skills they need to do the job, how do you decide if the person in front of you will be a good addition to your team?

The fact is that most organisations stick pretty much to the same script when hiring. Post an ad, or ask people to spread the word, make up a job description of what the person will have to “do”, and wait for the resumes to roll in.

Once the applicants have been culled to a reasonable number the interviewing begins, and at that point, questions are asked to try to get under the interview polish and see if the person sitting on the other side of the desk has what it takes. You may even have them take some kind of assessment test and have them spend some time with others in your organisation.

There has been a lot written about the role of culture to an organisation and the importance of the right people in shaping and sustaining it. So, yes you have to start by knowing what makes your organisation tick. But there is typically a big piece missing …

Beyond the usual issues of “what can they can do” and “who are they”, why use the same old hiring process as everyone else and expect to find the best people for your organisation?

It never ceases to amaze me how little time and thought is put into the actual process used – surely the way we hire says as much, if not more, about us than the questions we ask. And how the people we are hiring respond to that process can tell us more about them than is revealed in their answers to any question.

There are lots of examples out there of organisations who tackle things a bit differently. Here is a good article Hiring to Your Brand that shares stories about how well-known companies make their hiring processes fit them. And this Fast Company article Hire for Attitude. Train for Skill explores the idea further.

We may hire for skill, but we fire because the person just doesn’t “fit”… Ben Franklin said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”… your organisation is unique, your culture is yours alone, the way your hire people should be too.

See you next week.

Alignment is Michel’s passion. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia, and Brand Alignment Group in the United States, she helps organisations align who they are, with what they do and say to build more authentic and sustainable brands.

To read more Michel Hogan blogs, click here.