Did you know that 90% of the job ads posted today persist in
describing the requirements of experience, skills, and education for each
position as the only criteria? This would seem
to be a logical system for attracting well-qualified candidates.

However, I am personally aware of several cases of individuals
who have shied away from applying for those opportunities where the
prerequisites are so selectively detailed. These were extremely talented
candidates with many of the characteristics that would make them great
employees in any field.

So why didn’t these candidates apply? Because, based on the
ad content, they believed the company was more interested in experience and
skill level than talent, drive and desire.

There are multiple layers behind why the “traditional” way
doesn't work. You have probably heard me say that this method doesn't speak to
the person. For example, “skills” do not tap a person’s curiosity, awareness or
attentiveness or how they work in a group or leadership situation.

Finding more about who they are, what they are interested in, and how they view a beneficial working relationship will give you the relevant
information needed to identify the successful employee. 

 Lou Adler, a widely
read author in recruiting circles, recently wrote:

"Earlier this
year, I saw an ad for Facebook’s VP of Human Resources. It listed a bunch of
experience requirements interlaced with some generic responsibilities and
hyperbole.

To me this is backwards. It’s far better to define the job
before defining the person. If a person has successfully accomplished something
similar, he or she has exactly the level of skills, experience and academics
required.

The worked required to be done determines the skills needed,
the skills needed don't define the work required.  80-90% of the people who get promoted
internally into these same spots don’t have the experience, skills and
academics listed as required for someone hired from the outside.

What they do have
is something far better – a track record of performance that indicates they can
take on a bigger role in the company.

It seems obvious that if a company wants to
hire people who are both competent and motivated to do the work required, they
need to start by defining the work required.

Yet somehow this basic concept is lost when a
new job opens up. Instead of defining the job, managers focus on defining the
person. The end result is not a job description at all, but a person
description.

This limits the selection pool to a narrow
group of people just like the people the company has hired in the past. By
default, this precludes expanding the company’s diversity hiring program or
raising the company’s overall talent level.

For The
Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, I asked one of the top labor attorney’s
in the country, David Goldstein from Littler Mendelson, to review the idea of
using performance objectives to define the job, rather than skills. Here are a
few of his comments (you’ll find his full report in the book):

 ‘A properly prepared performance profile …and
focusing on “Year 1 and Beyond” criteria may open the door to more minority,
military, and disabled candidates who have a less “traditional” mix of
experiences, thereby supporting affirmative action or diversity efforts.’

Hiring a more diverse and talented workforce starts by
defining the work required for success, not the skills, experiences and
academics needed to do the work.

This is not rocket science, just commonsense, but apparently
commonsense is not one of the skills required for hiring people."

Lou’s
article and book are extremely valuable tools in today’s competitive hiring
environment. I am excited by the fact that most of our clients use this hiring
method and apply the philosophy it evokes.

Perhaps it
may be easier to practice these principles when it comes to independent contractors
such as real estate agents, but it is also the right thing to do. 

Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.