With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, Magellan Search & Staffing wants you to know about one of the newest trends in workforce solutions to be thankful for: Performance-Based Hiring!

Performance-based hiring is an efficient four-step process for hiring talent. It takes a team-based approach to workforce solutions, and places an emphasis on what a candidate is meant to achieve rather than the qualifications an applicant needs.

The first step in this process is to establish a “Performance Profile”. This profile is comprised of the specific objectives that a new hire should be able to complete. For instance, part of the Performance Profile for a Financial Analyst might be: manage actual expenses within 3% of total budget at the year end.

The Performance Profile should be defined by the hiring manager for the position. You should ask questions like:

  1. What does a person specifically need to accomplish in order to be considered successful in this role?
  2. What is the principal skill that this person needs to be successful, and how will this person utilize this skill?
  3. Who have been the most accomplished people in this role? What have they done in order to differentiate themselves from average performers?
  4. What is a critical team-based goal for this person?
  5. What is the biggest problem this person needs to solve?
  6. What is the biggest improvement this person needs to make within our company? How will s/he make this change/improvement?

The hiring manager for the role must prioritize the answers to these questions.This is meant to shift your view to a performance-based search rather than a qualifications-based search, and will assist you in finding the best possible candidate because you have established specific goals for this person.

The second step in the process is “Talent-centric Sourcing”. When you utilize this method, it invites prospective applicants to engage with your brand via social media, your website, or talent hub. These brand engagements should allow a candidate to have an introductory conversation with a recruiter or hiring manager. Rather than driving people to a job description, your sourcing strategy should revolve around actual interactions between employees and prospective talent. As a result, applicants will be able to more transparently understand your culture and opportunities.

The third step in the Performance-Based Hiring Process is to conduct an “Evidence-Based Interview”. During this interview, it is essential to ask candidates about their major professional accomplishments. You will then evaluate those accomplishments to ensure that candidates have experienced growth and a high level of performance throughout their whole career. If the opportunity they are interviewing for offers 15% more responsibility than what they are currently accomplishing, then it is more likely that they will accept an offer.

Finally, the fourth step of the process is to effectively recruit, negotiate with, and close the candidate to be sure the person will accept an offer. When compensation is fair, people accept new opportunities based on the challenge of the job, the opportunity for long-term growth, and their relationship with the hiring manager and the rest of the hiring team. This is where a hiring manager’s ability to communicate and build a relationship is key. The hiring manager should meet with the candidate at least twice during the interview process, and should contact the candidate at least two more times after the official offer is extended. During these conversations, the hiring manager must show interest in the prospective candidate’s growth and development, describe the responsibilities/challenges of the position, and give examples of other people who have succeeded in the role.

To be successful at Performance-Based Hiring, it is paramount to have a specific strategy for each step. Magellan has helped many companies hire candidates utilizing this approach. We develop a consultative relationship with our clients and candidates, and ask qualifying questions in order to fully understand which candidates will succeed in a role. We visit each of our clients in order to comprehend a company’s’ culture, and are able to relay this information to our candidates. We facilitate the interviewing, negotiating, and closing processes to ensure that you get to hire the perfect person for your opportunity. We want to help your business grow, and will not stop until we find the perfect person for your company.

For more information on our company, please visit www.magellangroup.com

Sources: The Adler Group and ERE Media

This article was written by Seamus Mooney, our Lead Research Analyst. His favorite Thanksgiving sides are sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce from the can, stuffing, and corn casserole.