Recruiting: Hiring For A Job You Don’t Understand
Whether you’re working in a startup that’s just got its foot in the door, a long-standing family business or a multinational enterprise, at some point, you may find yourself having to hire for a position you don’t fully understand.
The intricacies and nuances of certain positions can confuse even the most seasoned hiring manager, but just because you don’t understand the position doesn’t mean you can’t successfully hire someone right.
Covering All Your Bases
As someone who doesn’t know what success means in a position, how do you make the best choice? The best strategy is to make friends with doing research. The more technical and unique or specialized a job is, the more nuances and key points you will have to consider and be aware of. To familiarize yourself with a position and its subtleties, let’s take a look at some tips.
Review the job description. Hopefully you have the most important resource at hand. Take the time to analyze it and highlight the key skills that an individual will need to bring to the team. The description can serve as a guideline for benchmarking candidates.
Review exit interviews. What did previous employees say about the position, their responsibilities? Did they feel they didn’t have enough experience, or did they feel overqualified? This step will give you good intel on what to look for when reviewing resumes and asking interview questions.
Go online. Educate yourself and become a subject matter expert. Are there any certifications that are necessary? What technical terms or unique vocabulary are important? What websites, platform or software knowledge is required? This can help you establish a better idea of what you’re hiring for.
Interview the right people. We’re not talking about candidates yet, but hiring managers, people in the same or similar position and key decision makers. These are the people that are familiar with both the written and unwritten skills and traits needed for success in the position. They can also give you an idea on which candidate will be the best culture-fit.
“By Failing to Prepare, You Prepare to Fail”
To be able to hire successfully, doing research is key. Gathering information from colleagues, online and through relevant sources can help you build a strong pathway to success. It will also help you ensure that key stakeholders are all on the same page as you. With the knowledge at hand, you will be able to select and interview candidates consistently and thoughtfully.
Here at Prevue, in addition to the above steps, we offer pre–hiring assessments to further examine a candidate’s aptitude, motivations, and personality for each position. If you’re unsure about whether or not you’re making the right choice, using pre-hiring assessments can help you gain confidence in your hires. For example, if the position is highly technical and requires in-depth understanding of numbers, you can use a Numerical Reasoning assessment that covers just numbers, motivations, and personality. This option saves you time and gives candidates an experience that speaks precisely to their skills.
By preparing and doing your research, hiring in an area outside of your comfort zone is possible. All in all, taking the time to develop a process that is dedicated to looking for people with the skills you need and have the desire to work for you will help you save time and money in the long run.