December’s festivities can leave us dragging ourselves into January bleary-eyed and, frankly, lethargic.
What’ve you committed to working off this month? Mum’s crumble? All that mulled wine? Whatever your poison, the new year seems the most fashionable time to fret about one’s fitness.
Which got us thinking: why not use January – often the start of a hectic hiring spree for many in HR – to consider how we assess another type of fitness. One that sticks, no matter how quickly your 2020 exercise plan falls apart. Obviously, we’re talking about job fitness.
What is “job fitness”?
Googling this will quickly present you with a list of job ads at your nearest gym. But what we’re talking about is literally how fit your latest hire is for their new role. How confident are you that you get this right every time? Is it time to stop trusting your gut?
Robert Half data suggests that 40% of you need just two weeks to spot a bad hire. Which makes us wonder – if it’s this obvious, what exactly is it we’re missing before we make that final call?
To answer this question, it might help to look at two linked causes for bad hires, identified by Robert Half’s survey of hiring managers:
- Candidates lying on CVs (37%)
- Mismatch of skills (44%)
Both suggest that we’re relying on the wrong types of evidence when making hiring decisions. Not only can this cause stress and impact productivity, but it might soon see you re-running the long, expensive and painful recruitment marathon all over again. Unlikely to have been one of your 2020 resolutions.
HIIT: Help Identifying Invaluable Traits
So what evidence should you be prioritising?
For us, the scourge of unreliable CVs and subsequent skills mismatches outlines the importance of establishing candidates’ real behaviour. Painting a clear picture is the holy grail of assessing job fitness.
The easiest way to measure behaviour, and subsequent job fitness, is to use the Arctic Shores game-based assessment. We trace 34 distinct behavioural traits, matching them to the needs of both the role and your company’s culture.
Failing this, and in true January spirit, you could corral your candidate into one of the following to better get to know them:
- Vegan working lunch (it’s Veganuary, after all)
- Yoga & wellness retreat
- New Year, New Me bootcamp
On reflection, do these seem a bit expensive/painful/time-consuming? You’re probably right. As we’ve mentioned, there are better (read: faster, less painful) ways to understand your candidates’ behaviour this year.
Make behaviour-based hiring your newest New Year’s resolution. Dry January be damned.
Want to learn more about the Arctic Shores psychometric assessment? Arrange your demo here.
