Introduction

As a small business owner selecting qualified individuals to fill positions is of great importance and a continual challenge. Higher quality candidates are the ones typically in demand and highly sought after by other business owners and staffing professionals. Time pressures to fill the position coupled with the war for talent require a selection system that is accurate, fair to all candidates and one where both interviewers and candidates believe in the value of the selection system. This second article in the series of the selection process for the small business owner will help ensure making the right choice of that top candidate by following five simple recruiting and selection program steps.

Step one-The job Analysis and job Description

In brief, the job analysis is the study of jobs to determine what activities and responsibilities are included, their relative importance in comparison with other jobs, the qualifications necessary for job performance, and the conditions under which the work is performed. An easy way to start is to collect information already in existence like job titles, job descriptions, major duties, task dimensions, and work flow information. Prepare a preliminary list of job duties and conduct interviews with job holders and supervisors who are considered the subject matter experts. You should view the job in action in comparison with the data collected then consolidate your information in a written job description. The last step in this phase is to verify the job description with all stakeholders involved in the process to verify the description is accurate and complete.

Step two-Identify job Competencies

Once the job description is complete, the next step is to identify the requirements of the job also known as competencies. The competencies are the knowledge, behaviors, and motivations associated with the success or failure in a job. These competencies will help guide the interview by focusing on the information about the candidate that is most predictive of the required performance in the job.

Technical knowledge is the specialized information a candidate must possess to be successful in a position. This could be knowledge of accounting, a software program, or engineering. The behaviors of the job are what a candidate should do in the job to be successful. For example, this could be planning and organizing, delegating, decision making, or customer service. Last but not least, the motivations of the job should be identified as the characteristics of the job that a candidate will find satisfying. This would include the job itself such as opportunities for visibility, interaction, and recognition to name a few. The elements of the organizational culture and the physical location must be taken into consideration as all of these aspects determine the best fit for the candidate and the company.

Step Three-Develop Behavioral Questions

Now that the competencies have been identified, it is time to develop behavioral questions to ask the candidate during the interview. You should write at least three questions for each competency that focus on the most important aspects of the competency. Develop a guide that contains planned questions for each competency you and others can use in the interview process. Remember, the key to predicting how a candidate will perform in a job is to collect and examine how the candidate has performed in similar jobs in the past. For example, a question to ask regarding a candidate's decision making ability would be "give me an example of a time where you had to make a decision with little or no information." In the design of the question keep in mind that you will be seeking from the candidate the situation or task, what the person did or how they did it, and the result.

Step Four-Conduct the Interview

Save the time consuming and in depth method of face to face interviews for the most qualified candidates following resume screening and phone screening. Several interviewers can be utilized in the process by assigning them different competencies in your interviewing guide. The key aspects of the interview are to ask all your planned behavioral questions, gather complete examples from the candidate (the situation, action they took, and the result), build rapport with the candidate, take good notes, and manage the interview process to stay on schedule. The behavioral information collected from the candidate will allow you to make accurate predictions on how the candidate will perform on the job, what motivates them, and how well they will fit in the organization including the physical location of the job.

Step Five-Evaluate Interview Data and Make Your Decision

In this step it is important to evaluate and organize the data collected for each competency and provide an overall rating for each competency. Base your rating on a scale of one to five with three being meets the standard of the competency, and anything below three would not meet the competency, and anything above three exceeds the requirements of the competency. What you should look for in making this determination is complete answers to each question, recent examples, similarity to the target job, and the impact of the result. If an interview team was involved in the process all parties should meet and discuss their results and ratings, and reach consensus on a rating for each competency. The end result is making a yes or no decision on each candidate selected for an interview.

Conclusion

When the wrong applicant appears to have made it through the hiring process, or turnover and absenteeism levels are higher than expected, people are sometimes quick to attribute these problems to bad judgment during the interview process. However, these issues may actually be reflective of a more serious systemic problem with the hiring process. If properly implemented, the system of job analysis, job competency development, behavioral interviewing, and data evaluation can ensure that a solid foundation is established in matching the right people to the right jobs ensuring an accurate, equitable, and legally defensible selection system.