Hiring the right talent can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially when the haystack is full of vague job descriptions and shifting priorities. One of the biggest challenges recruiters often face is getting clear, actionable hiring criteria from hiring managers. It’s not uncommon to encounter lists of unrealistic expectations, conflicting inputs, or a lack of understanding about the role’s true requirements. These hurdles can lead to inefficiencies, extended hiring timelines, and missed opportunities for bringing in top talent.
One of the most critical roles a hiring manager plays in the recruitment process is to identify and clearly articulate objective hiring criteria. These are the keys to success in any role. But there seems to be a disconnect here. Terms like “good personality” or arbitrary requirements such as years of experience need to be distilled into specific competencies, intrinsic motivators, and tangible achievements that recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers can all measure against.
Having great hiring criteria should become a non-negotiable. Let’s get into it!
The Hiring Criteria Framework
A strong hiring criteria framework is designed to capture four main areas that need to be pre-identified before the interview process begins. These areas are essential in helping predict on-the-job success.
1. Skills and Knowledge
The first area is skills and knowledge: What does this person need to know how to do? Distinguish between trainable and non-trainable skills, as this helps decide which skills are deal breakers. For example, a necessary non-trainable skill might be proficiency in a specific programming language, whereas a trainable skill could be familiarity with a particular software tool.
2. Competencies or Behaviors
The second area is competencies or behaviors, which describe how the person does what they do. These can vary by company but often include essential soft skills such as:
- Adaptability
- Collaboration
- Learning Agility
- Customer Focus
Using vague terms like “culture fit” is discouraged. Instead, focus on specific behaviors that will predict success in your company.
3. Intrinsic Motivation
The third area is intrinsic motivation, determining whether the candidate is naturally motivated to do the work required. Rather than using language like passionate or outgoing – these are just proxies – identify what aspects of the work should genuinely excite and motivate the person.
4. Achievements and Results
The fourth area is achievements, focusing on the quality of experience rather than quantity. Look at what the candidate has built, scaled, led, designed, sold, or developed in the past. These achievements can provide confidence that they can replicate similar success in your organization.
Avoiding Vague and Biased Criteria
It’s essential to avoid using general, poorly defined adjectives in a hiring criteria as they are often loaded with biases. Terms like outgoing, culture fit, and passionate are subjective and can lead to biased hiring decisions. For example, the term “high potential” often means someone who reminds the hiring manager of themselves, leading to a lack of diversity and potential bias.
Learn more: Uncovering the Truth Behind this Notorious Hiring Criteria
Replacing Vague Terms with Specific Criteria
Here are a few examples of how to replace vague terms with specific, evidence-based hiring criteria:
- Bad Hiring Criteria: Top-rated university degree, 10 years of experience, firm handshake.
- Good Hiring Criteria: Successful in selling enterprise software to $100 million size companies in Asia.
- Better Hiring Criteria: Played the primary role in turning marketing-generated leads into customers, successfully selling multi-year enterprise software to chief information officers at companies that already had a non-cloud-based enterprise software solution.
The better hiring criteria are more detailed and provide a clearer picture of what the candidate should have accomplished, making it easier to evaluate their fit for the role.
Must-Haves vs. Nice-to-Haves
When defining hiring criteria, it is crucial to distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves. Some skills and experiences can be obtained on the job, and having an extensive list of must-haves can significantly reduce your talent pool. Instead, focus on a realistic set of minimum requirements and recognize that no candidate is likely to be perfect in every aspect.
Multiple Candidate Profiles
The idea of an ideal candidate profile just doesn’t exist. In reality, multiple profiles might be suitable for a role, as there are likely various successful individuals on your team with different experiences and skills. By broadening your search and looking beyond a single perfect candidate profile, you can find great talent that may have been previously overlooked.
Weighting Hiring Criteria
When evaluating candidates, consider the different weightings you place on each of the four hiring criteria. For example, a candidate might excel in competencies and motivation but have slightly less experience in a particular skill. Determine if this candidate could build on their foundation to meet your needs. Candidates are rarely perfect, and rigid expectations can lead to prolonged job vacancies.
Structuring the Interview Process
Generally speaking it is unrealistic for a single interviewer to cover all the hiring criteria in a 30, 45, or 60-minute interview. Instead, if you can, leverage a team of interviewers, each focusing on specific areas. This approach provides depth and breadth in evaluating candidates and ensures high-quality feedback across all criteria.
Example of Structured Interview Focus Areas
For instance, a five-person interview team might include:
- Hiring Manager: Focuses on significant achievements, intrinsic motivation, job fit, and some selling points.
- Peer 1: Evaluates specific skills and competencies, such as problem-solving and collaboration.
- Peer 2: Assesses different skills and conducts a case study.
- Internal Customer: Focuses on core competencies like adaptability and customer focus, possibly through role play.
- Recruiter/HR Partner: Concentrates on job motivation and Q&A.
This structured approach ensures comprehensive coverage of all hiring criteria without duplication and allows for a faster and more efficient interview process.
Creating Great Interview Questions
Investing time upfront in defining hiring criteria helps in creating great interview questions. For example, if a required achievement is selling multi-year enterprise software, a related question might be:
“Can you please tell me about a time you had a 5 million Euro plus size enterprise software sale to some C-level executives in Asia? I’d like an example where the customer already had an existing software in place, and you convinced them to switch to your solution.”
For must-have skills, ask:
“Can you tell me about a time you used Java or Python to build a mobile app that had significant frontend and backend system challenges? What were those challenges, and how did you solve them?“
For competencies or behaviors, you can integrate them into situational questions. For example:
“Describe a situation where you had to adapt quickly to a change in project requirements. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?“
For intrinsic motivators, avoid assumptions and focus on alignment with the work:
“Do you enjoy customer service work that involves detailed interactions with stakeholders? Why or why not?“
Armed with a clear, actionable hiring criteria, it becomes easy to create interview questions that can really dig into the core areas of success for the role.
Learn more: Interviewing 101: Best Practice Techniques
Conclusion
Effective hiring criteria are objective, specific, and evidence-based. By focusing on skills and knowledge, competencies and behaviors, intrinsic motivation, and achievements, hiring managers can create a comprehensive and unbiased framework for evaluating candidates. Avoid vague and biased terms, distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves, and structure the interview process to cover all critical areas. This approach ensures a fair and thorough evaluation, leading to better hiring decisions which ultimately contribute to the success of the organization.
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