Hiring, Motivating, and Training
"For Success"

By Allyn Cutts, President
Cutts Group, llc

Did You Know:

• over 90 percent of all hiring decisions are made based solely on information from the resume and candidate interview
  
  
• and, this information is only 14% accurate

If you think about it, many systems for hiring are based more on perception than reality. Organizations write job descriptions to attract their "Ideal" candidates; applicants say what they need to say in order to win the job they want--or think they want. Everyone's disappointed!

Who's To Blame?

Everyone... and no one. At fault is a lack of knowledge. It's all the stuff your father didn't know, your mother couldn't teach you, and our educational system -including Harvard Business School--has been ignorant to for the most part, until now.

It's a lack of knowledge about observable human behavior, attitudes, values, soft skills, and cognitive reasoning as it relates to specific jobs and work environment.

Can Human Resource professionals be expected to fully understand and map behaviors, values, attitudes and all the other "stuff" that drives human performance?

Let's face it, the scope of responsibility covered by the Human Resources department is so broad-payroll, benefits, relocation, evaluation, compliance-that it's unrealistic to expect them to be a master at everything.

Energize and Empower Your HR Efforts

So, if most job descriptions and hiring practices focus on the interview, resume, education, and work experience-and that system is only 14% accurate-- what should you be looking at when hiring?

Everything! Evaluate as many aspects of the candidate as you can in order to determine the right fit for the job. You'll probably want to continue using some of the same practices you currently use, but it's important to supplement them with modern diagnostic and assessment tools.

It's been proven, almost conclusively, that the right pre-hiring strategies and systems can substantially increase your chances for selecting the person who is the best fit for the job-- and for your organization's unique culture.

The right strategy and systems diagnose and evaluate behavior, as well as talent and skill. The best strategies and systems go even deeper by identifying the most accurate indicators of performance and "fit" for the job-behaviors, soft skills, attitudes, values, and competencies.

Without the right diagnostic and assessment tools, factors like behavioral tendencies, attitudes, values and soft skill sets are hard to identify and even more difficult to measure.

To get an idea of how out-of-balance the emphasis on hiring based on traditional "resume/interview" methods can be independent studies show that most jobs can be performed with a high degree of quality and excellence by people with average talent and ability when the right fit for the job exists, in terms of soft-skills, attitude, values, and behaviors.

Think of it this way, "values" drive-and perfect or distort-talent. On the other hand, talent never "drives" personal interests, attitudes, values or behaviors. Think of a bicycle. It's the back wheel that produces the momentum to set the front wheel in motion.

It's never the other way around. Behaviors are the front wheel. Unless the back wheel, the "values" powers it, the bike's going nowhere!

Split Personalities?

Another widespread problem in perception is an erroneous belief in natural dichotomy. Sure, most people do behave one way at work and another way in other areas of their life, but it's adaptive behavior. It isn't natural and it isn't congruent.

We tend to adapt the behaviors and personas we need-or think we need-in order to blend with the job, a supervisor, the corporate culture or even a specific job title. Once on the job, we assume certain required behaviors, either consciously or unconsciously.

If the required behaviors are in conflict with our natural tendencies, this can be so uncomfortable that we can't wait to shed them the moment we exit the workplace.

When the behaviors, attitudes, values and personal interests we feel compelled to assume in the work environment are significantly out of synch with our natural tendencies, the conflict produces stress. Over time, stress creates a myriad of problems that may include poor performance and poor health.

It's interesting that the most obvious genre of our national media-television--consistently portrays a world where this split does not exist. In TV commercials, as well as most sitcoms, people act the same at work as they do at home, only in different clothes.

This is the natural state that would exist if everyone used the right criteria for matching jobs and people.

Most of the time, in the real world, we put on the "clothing" -including our "work masks"--we think is required, even when the clothing doesn't fit comfortably, and behave accordingly.

Getting It Right, Step 1:
Job Descriptions

It may seem obvious, but unless the hirer and the job applicant both understand what the job really requires, each will be communicating based on personal perceptions, bias - and misconceptions.

Who writes the job descriptions for your organization? Is it a person with any bias? If they're human the answer is yes. Has the writer studied and benchmarked the behavioral style, values, attitude, soft skills, and cognitive reasoning required for superior performance at that particular position?

Take a look at the job listings you've posted recently. If your organization is like most, the descriptions will be heavily task-oriented. They may accurately and clearly list the scope of responsibility and the desired objectives.

But do they also describe the personal interests, values, and attitudes, behaviors, soft skills and competence necessary to accomplish the job tasks? And if they are listed, do you have proven, well-developed validated tools in place for measuring and benchmarking the candidate as well as the position?

Getting It Right, Step 2:
Goals, Objectives, Values and Attitudes

Consider the "goals and objectives" job candidates feel compelled to recite in their interviews and later in employee reviews. The process may assume that using the talent, skill and experience is the "goal or objective." Or the process may assume that the long-term goals stated on the applicant's resume or in the interview or review process represent personal goals.

Let's face it; it's not easy to make a decision about a multi-dimensional person based on one-dimensional criteria, the resume, even when it's backed up by a personal interview. If you have only the resume and interview to rely on, it's even harder to measure if the goals stated by the individual are the true goals or if they will align with, and contribute to, your corporate goals.

Keep in mind; a person's true goals are always driven by personal interests, attitudes and values - or what we refer to as PIAV.

Having a strategy and systems in place for defining and measuring these key indicators-think about the back wheel of that bike - will help you determine if the goals of the individual are in concert-or conflict-with those of the organization, or of a particular department.

Getting it Right, Part 3:
Behaviors, Soft Skills and Cognitive Reasoning

As long as your company relies on the traditional criteria of resume and interview, there's a danger jobs will be awarded to candidates who "look right" on the resume and recite exactly the phrases and "go ahead" words your managers are waiting to hear in the interview.

When this happens, the job will not be getting the right mix behavior, soft skills, and cognitive reasoning it needs and the employee may lose some integrity. Performance and personal development stall. People must come to the job with a natural style that is congruent with the demands, goals and pace of the job. The closer this match, the higher the performance level goes up.

So people deceive you. Hey, don't feel bad. It's been reported that in 2001, 300,000 people received jobs by deception. It's not unusual. But it indicates how easy it is for even talented, good candidates to end up in a job that isn't right for them.

Periodically, the flaws in traditional hiring methods become impossible to ignore. Then, you know without a doubt, that you need a new paradigm for how jobs and people are evaluated and paired.

Getting It Right Every Time

Allyn Cutts, founder of the Cutts Group, advises organizations to implement proven effective strategies and systems with appropriate diagnostic and measurement tools.

"Look for strategies and systems founded on intensive research, absolutely clean data collection and continuous benchmarking. We have a system that's used by the world's top performing companies.

At the Cutts Group, for example, we've developed highly sophisticated, comprehensive methods that have proven successful in over 200 industries with over four million business professionals. Our signature system, Proper People Placement (PPP), provides a blueprint that can substantially improve an organization's Human Resource efforts."

The right strategies and systems, supported by dynamic diagnostic and measurement tools will show, in detail, how-- and if-- a candidate fits with the job, your company and your corporate culture-and in less time than it takes to complete a traditional job application.

The insightful information provided by the right system will take the guesswork out of hiring. With a little help from the right sources, you can quickly find the right person for the job, every time.

Hiring mistakes are expensive. Yet most companies have more specific strategies and techniques in place for buying computers and software than for hiring the right person. If you're looking for a turnkey, proven successful system for more effective hiring, Proper People Placement (PPP) can help.

Proper People Placement (PPP) is a comprehensive system that utilizes the most advanced, accurate and in-depth diagnostic, assessment and measurement procedures and tools available. For more information, contact the Cutts Group at (800) 482-7280, or (610) 437-4106 outside the U.S. and Canada or visit us on the web at http://www.cuttsgroup.com.

The Cutts Group partners with clients who are committed to continuous growth. We provide the organizational development, team building, employee selection, executive coaching, and sales training resources our clients demand for measurable results and return on investment. Satisfaction and investment are always guaranteed, always.