Hiring for Leadership, Part 2 — Hiring for Skills

Hiring Based on Skills

Hiring an applicant based solely on their skill set is a fairly cut and dry procedure. If they have the skills to do the job, they get the position. If your organization’s hiring style is skill based, consider these three things before and during the interview process.

• Think about the future — You need to hire someone quickly, but don’t ignore the long term in your decisioning. Consider where your organization is going. Are you headed into new markets? Transitioning into different areas? A candidate with a solid set of transferable skills could be invaluable in helping your business succeed in both new and existing business aspects.
• Experience isn’t everything — It’s easy to be impressed by statistics on a resumé. You read a bullet point like, “Twenty years of nursing experience,” you believe you have a strong prospect. But what if that person needs improvement on their leadership skills? Learn how the prospect gained that experience. Don’t be afraid to ask probing questions to gain a better picture of the candidate. What were their accomplishments?
• Put their skills to the test — Develop or find a skills-based assessment test that is aligned the organization’s vision and mission. A good skills test cuts through the rhetoric and gets right down to the crux of the issue: can your prospect lead your workforce to achieve the organization’s mission and values? Testing of this nature also eliminates personal bias by focusing solely on the demonstration and application of desired skill sets. If a candidate meets the baseline requirements, they advance to the next round. It’s as simple as that.

Skill-based interviewing allows you to ascertain whether your applicant will be successful in the role and in the organization. It does not, however, factor in the prospect’s personality. We’ll address that in our next blog entry.