Hire for the Position, Not the Person

Recruiting, Hiring and Firing. It Comes with the Territory…

Recruiting, interviewing, hiring, executing background checks, plus training and integrating individuals into capable business associates is an undeniable function within all business entities. The agent-owner who effectively and economically executes their role in these areas will be the business entity that survives another day in fulfilling the business purpose. Those who get lost in the hiring process; getting bogged down by uncertain recruiting costs and high expenses involved with installing new hires into the organization...will not survive.

In order to remain viable as a business entity and to sustain growth, agency-owners must be constantly scouting talent while at the same time ready to assess the potential of a candidate’s fitness to fill a given position. Thus, it is extremely important for the agent-owner to draft detailed job descriptions for each position within the organization detailing all function within the agency that fall under the requirements of the position before ever considering to recruit and hire someone.

The on-boarding of new talent can be expensive. At least, it can be expensive when considering the cost involved with acquisition costs and the time invested in evaluating each potential hire. It can also be expensive from a production standpoint. Specifically, if the candidate hired does not perform well in the position they are hired to fulfill, the expense to the agent–owner can be enormous...and can be measured in actual dollars and cents.

That is the great challenge in hiring any new employee into an agency or other small business; making them a center for profit versus an expense on the balance sheet at the end of the year.

How Can I Increase My Chances of Making a New Employee a Profitable Employee?

So, what can an agent or small business owner do to increase the likelihood that a new hire will be a revenue center for them rather than another expense to worry about? The best thing an agent can do to ensure that happens is by being disciplined in the hiring process.

What does it mean to be disciplined in the hiring process? What it means to be disciplined in the hiring process is this; all too often agents who have determined that their business operation needs a new employee will seek to fill that position with someone who is seasoned in the business and already licensed rather than someone who can satisfy the requirements of the job. Worse yet, the reason for hiring some individuals will rest on whether the agent-owner “liked” them or not for some particular reason.

Experience, licenses and a likability factor are important aspects to consider during the selection phase; but alone, these factors in determining whether to hire someone or not can produce disastrous results for the agent-owner. Remaining disciplined in your approach to recruiting and evaluating talent is vital in matching the right candidate for the position at hand. The proper way to evaluate talent is against a standard based on the skill sets necessary to perform the functions of the open position.

Use a Job Description & Match the Requirements of the Position to the Person

Being disciplined in the hiring process means deliberately matching the skills and abilities of a candidate with the detailed tasks as outlined in the job description. This process helps prevent the agent-owner from succumbing to the temptation of bypassing the steps necessary in matching talent to the skill sets outlined in the job description. As a result, instead of relying on the uncertain factors of "personality" and "industry" experience when assessing a candidate, the agent-owner can focus on specific competencies and skill sets as outlined in the job description.

The candidate who is hired for what they can do, rather who they are...has the greater likelihood of being the best hire. The benefit to be gained in adopted such a policy when recruiting talent is this; trading the opportunity to hire the best candidate for the expediency of selecting someone with experience and a license is a foolish thing. Such an unstructured and random selection process can only result in the wrong person being hired.

That alone has a cost all its own; literally.

Copyright © 2009 - Tony Cefalu