Hire for Your Organization; Not the Job

Personality tests are one of many screening tools in the hiring process

In a saturated job market, hiring managers have the enormous task of wading through the candidate pool to find the perfect fit. However, while a prospective candidate may look great on paper, they may not be the right match for your company. Hiring managers are increasingly looking for potential employees that fit the company’s workplace culture as well as those who can do the job.

Workplace Culture Supports Company Success

Your company could fumble or score based on your hiring decisions. Employees value a positive work environment that includes dynamic and supportive co-workers who encourage productivity and boost morale. One bad hire could ruin the bunch, so focusing on finding the right fit for your organization is as important as finding the right fit for the job.

According to David Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, whom are the authors of Tribal Leadership, hiring for your work culture has proven to have long-term benefits on the overall success of companies in today’s economy. In their book, Logan, King and Fischer-Wright identify some of the most notable benefits of a positive work culture, including:

• Interpersonal friction is reduced in the workforce, helping to decrease and even eliminate employee fear and stress.
• A company’s recruitment and retention efforts are bolstered as people seek employment at your company and decide to stay at their job longer. Strong retention numbers allow your company to foster talent and invest in employee development for the benefit of your company.
• Co-workers teach new hires the expectations, practices and view point of your company, which reduces company-sponsored training efforts.
• Your employees have better health, which reduces sick days.
• Your employees are having more fun on the job, giving morale a boost.

“Individual employees are the company’s most valuable resource,” said Dr. Arnie Dahlke, program director of the industrial and organizational psychology program at Touro University Worldwide. “When properly qualified, well trained employees do what it takes to accomplish their work in a trusting, collaborative and facilitative work environment, they are more likely to approach what they do with an eye toward continuous improvement and an awareness of their contribution to creating customer value.”

Dr. Dahlke notes the long-term result for businesses is more satisfied customers and higher profitability.

The Costs of a Bad Hire

A bad hire can cost your company. When your company makes reactionary hires, they are missing out on an opportunity to make strategic hiring decisions based on market growth trends, new service sectors and departmental expansions that could provide a boost to your bottom line and raise your company’s competitive value. Bad hires can lead to wasted training investment, high employee turnover, a loss in employee morale and productivity as well as diminishing customer satisfaction.

Invest in New Screening Tools for the Perfect Hire

Some hiring managers have accepted the endless hiring wheel, especially when hiring for entry-level positions. However, an investment in new screening tools and the adoption of better practices can help upgrade your hiring processes and ultimately reduce your long-run hiring costs.

Structured interviewing

Interviewing is a standard hiring procedure; however, the structure of your interview process could likely use some work if you aren’t finding quality and reliable talent. Dr. Dahlke notes that effective screening of candidates and skilled interviews are important functions of hiring and retaining outstanding employees.

Give your interview process uniformed structure to improve the likelihood of hiring talent that can meet the demands of the job while fitting your company’s established culture.

Many companies will utilize their human resource department to screen applicants via the phone. The HR representatives will then pass qualified candidates along to hiring managers to determine who they’d like to meet with one-on-one for further discussion. Behavioral-based structured interviews that utilize pre-established questions and analysis metrics are more effective than unstructured interviews.

Learn more with personality tests

Interviews are a great way for hiring managers to form a first impression about a potential candidate’s personality, job experience, industry knowledge, skills and more. However, you are not likely to discover much beyond what is stated on their resume during a 30 minute interview. Many companies are now employing personality tests to get a better look at prospective employees. Personality tests provide a standardized approach that allows hiring managers to gauge the potential success of a candidate by having an inside look at what motivates candidates in a job, how they react to change, how they prefer to be managed and more.

However, administering off-the-shelf personality tests without the help of an industrial organizational psychologist (IOP) could potentially result in flawed outcomes. Even companies with dedicated human resource departments should contract or hire an IOP to oversee testing to ensure accurate test analysis and outcomes. Companies need to consider what the results mean to their hiring process. Dr. Dahlke warns against relying solely on personality tests to make informed hiring decisions.

“I’ve always recommend that mangers use personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to get to know their new-hires better, but not to use them as a section criteria,” he said.

Finding the hiring strategy that works for your company is important to attracting quality talent that meets the job’s needs and the company’s needs. According to Dr. Dahlke, there is no magic bullet formula that can be applied to every organization to ensure perfect hiring and long-term employee retention.

“Organizational cultures differ,” said Dr. Dahlke. “Hiring and retention efforts must be tailored to the specific culture of the organization.”

Touro University Worldwide (TUW) believes in the transformative power of continued education. TUW students are committed to social justice, intellectual pursuit and philanthropic duty and receive a well-rounded educational experience focused on the holistic development of the individual. An advanced degree from TUW can change your career trajectory and your future putting you on a path towards advancement and lifelong success.