In this video, Konstanty Sliwowski, the founder of Caissa Global Recruitment, talks about how you can hire the candidate you need based on the changes likely to occur in the months to come. He points out why this is important and how it can save companies from poor hiring.
The details are in the video transcript below:
Most recruitment processes fail to begin by asking “why” there is a need to make a hire and quickly jump to asking “who do we want to hire”.
- This typically begins with the writing of the job description, or, in most cases, the dusting off and recycling of a previous job description.
- This is, in effect, looking for a solution without understanding the problem and assuming that a previous or someone else's definition of the role is a “good place to start”.
Instead, when planning to hire, the role must be analysed from the perspective of:
- Why you need to make a hire, and
- What the needs of the company are
And I am not only talking about the current needs but, more importantly, what the needs of the business will be in 6 to 12 month time.
With an average hiring process taking 6-8 weeks and at least a month of notice (often 3 months), you will be lucky to have a person start in 3 to 6 months. The problems you are facing now as a business or team will have, at that point, changed, moved on, or evolved.
If you add a 3-month onboarding into the equation you need to face the fact that you are hiring not for today but for the future.
The questions you need to be asking are:
- What work do you want someone to do in 6 months?
- Which skills are needed to do it?
- What do you want the company to look like in 6 months?
- How will the team culture evolve?
- What technical evolutions do you expect to happen? and
- What skills will you need the person to bring as well as acquire during their employment with you?
Without asking these questions, the typical hiring practice ends up being about guessing what qualifications are needed based on the current status and not on a strategic plan.
This also results in the job description focusing on questions, such as:
- How much education is needed? and
- How many years of experience are needed?
Sadly, in both cases, these common questions manage to combine two of the poorest predictors of success on the job.
If you want to learn more about the questions you need to ask internally to specify the true nature of the role and job requirements that will futureproof your hire, comment below or get in touch and I will be happy to share more insights.
In sum, when hiring or filling a vacancy, you must:
- Start with the basics. Begin by asking why you want to hire instead of what you want to hire.
- Consider the amount of time taken to hire a new employee. It takes roughly about 3-4 months to get a replacement.
- Think about future changes. What things - values, norms, technology - might change by the time the new employee joins the company
- Make an informed decision. Hire according to future needs, not the present ones only.
How can you specify the role of the job to future proof your hire? How can you meet the demands of technology employers? Contact us for help.
