“Every day I sent a stack of resumes to the trash.” How to find the perfect employee in 3 steps

This story began with a layoff. One employee had said goodbye to our company, and it was urgent to find a replacement. Every day I had a stack of resumes on my desk, most of which immediately went in the trash. After several interviews, I realized that resumes are, like nice clothes, just the tip of the iceberg. And to find the right specialist, I needed to change my approach to the search.

Step One: “Try on Moccasins”

Out of dozens or even hundreds of candidates, how do you find the right one?

To do this, I had to study in detail the tasks that the candidate would perform. And even “tried on his moccasins. And I had to answer the questions of who my ideal candidate was:

• How proactive?
• How does he or she make decisions?
• What is he striving for and what is he afraid of?
• Would I rather have him work independently or be part of a team?

Step Two: Giving up Universality

Here it is important to understand that the “universal ideal employee” exists only in an ideal world. Each position has its own set of important characteristics.

For example, a person has spent many years putting candy in boxes on the assembly line for eight hours a day. He is prepared for monotonous, repetitive work, because his goal for the day is to fill boxes while the conveyor belt is moving. He knows that he must clearly follow instructions and safety rules. If an abnormal situation arises, immediately report it to a supervisor and/or follow the instructions.

Now imagine that you have hired this “ideal” employee as a sales manager. He would come to you every day with hundreds of questions, passing the buck. He waits for the customer to call instead of calling himself. He needs clear instructions on how to proceed for every task.

And it’s not about whether a person is a good person or not. It is more important whether he is in his right place.

Step Three: Paying Attention to Personality

Among the reasons: employees are hired by acquaintance or by first impression at the interview. Or they are looking for a person for a particular function, turning a blind eye to incompatibilities. As a result, you run the risk of hiring someone you like, but who is completely unsuited to the task. As a result, the employee fails, his motivation drops, and he starts looking for a new job. Remember Murphy’s Law, “As soon as you get a job, immediately start looking for a new one”?

Most often this happens because when selecting specialists, more attention is paid to functional skills and much less to personal qualities. And it depends on them how quickly a candidate will adapt and integrate into the team. And also how he will interact with colleagues, which tasks will suit him, and which will cause resistance. And even understand how a person will behave in this or that situation.

Companies that deal with such issues adapt easily to change. Each person understands his or her tasks and knows how his or her work reflects on the overall goals. It is said of such companies that “everyone is in their place here.

And it’s not about whether employees are good or bad. The point is that such companies have the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Such a team helps the manager, deals with the “operations” themselves, and allows him to focus on the main goals and objectives of the business.

And by the way, I found an employee at the time. And I knew exactly how he would behave in different situations. He has been performing all his tasks for many years, and I have confidence in him.