The Least Worst Candidate

Full Disclosure: I have led strategic human capital management teams as a consultant and executive for 14 years...

The greatest threat to your company's customer experience is the least worst candidate during new employee selection. This is especially true in companies that are quick to hire and slow to fire.

Do you have an immediate opening that you simply must fill as soon as possible? Is it also a strategically critical role for your organization? Chances are, companies that find themselves in this situation also rely on very traditional HR practices and will put an ad on the popular job boards as well as the local newspaper. Hundreds of candidates will flood the desk of the person who is responsible for posting jobs. He or she will sift through them looking for key words on the resumes. Then a select few will be forwarded to the hiring manager for consideration. The final pool will be called and invited to interviews the following week. Then the candidate with the best interview will be chosen by the hiring manager and will start in two weeks. Sound familiar?

The new hire is given office supplies, gets a company email and intranet access after a few days, and spends much of the first week shadowing or meeting with other key employees. Then it is off to the races. The first few problems are attributed to the employee's newness and the training team is called upon to provide some solutions. However, the problems continue so it is clearly the ineffective trainers who are at fault now. None of the customer complaints have moved up the chain of command so the hiring manager is still comfortable that things can be turned around once the new hire gets some more experience. However, the new hire is now learning how to prevent angry customers from reporting their dissatisfaction instead of trying to mitigate or solve the customer's concerns. While the new hire is supposed to "deliver the wow", instead he or she is "delivering the ou(ch)". The new hire is starting to find ways to circumvent the company's policies and procedures, work the system to maximize personal income, and stay one step ahead of any reports or awareness of service failures. When the boss finally catches on to some of the games, instead of managing performance (which would involve uncomfortable conversations, possibly conflict, and annoying paperwork and HR involvement), the hiring manager simply reassigns the most upset accounts to another employee. After all, this new hire was the best of the entire crop of hundreds of applicants, right? Now that he or she has all of this experience and training the boss needs to find a way to make this work, a place where this new hire fits.

But what if you could avoid hiring the least worst candidate altogether? What if you already had a strong pool of external candidates waiting for openings in your organization? What if you already had a pool of internal candidates that were proven performers, high potentials, a great fit for the skills you need, and ready for the challenge? World-class leaders in talent management don't worry about sudden or unexpected losses. They already have a plan in place to back-fill every critical technical and leadership role in their organization. You will also find that these organizations have the happiest and most loyal customers.

First, and foremost, every employee should be recruiting for your company all the time. Your company should have a strategy in place that clearly states that your existing employees should be looking for like-minded individuals (passionate, brand-champion, hard-working, loyal, top performers). And that when they meet those potential candidates, that your employees have a great elevator pitch about the fabulous work environment and opportunities that exist at your company. The marketing of your employer brand is the most critical part of your attraction strategy. It is not always enough to have a lot of people wanting to work for your company, they need to be the best people and the right people. Ask your HR team about your company's sourcing and attracting strategies. If they don't drive a constant buzz on the street and hits on your jobboard, then you need to help HR fix this shortcoming.

Second, you should know the competencies that drive best practices that lead to meeting and exceeding your company and team's strategic objectives. HR should help you build a selection strategy that includes a process by which candidates for a position are screened multiple times, narrowing the choices down to the internal and external candidates that are the best fit and ready for the challenge. The typical tools that are used in world-class selection processes include an initial phone screen by HR that asks about a candidate's knowledge about the company, team, and position; a validated simulation that is scored by a trained incumbent; a competency-based behavioral interview by the hiring manager; and a written or online assessment of aptitude that is based on work behaviors. The "price of admission" competencies that you are using in this screening process should include knowledge, skills, experience, aptitude, physical and mental abilities, and personal traits that are difficult to teach (almost innate) or commodities (so many people have them that they are not taught by your company).

Third, your company should never be caught off guard. HR should have guided senior and mid-level leaders through a workforce planning exercise that resulted in a clear picture of the company's bench strength for all key positions. Evidence of effective workforce planning efforts would include career path maps or ladders, individual development plans that focus employees on the competencies required for their next role, and succession plans or maps for senior leadership positions. This is not the 1950's, no one should expect employees to devote their entire career to one company. In fact, that would not be healthy (no fresh ideas or diversity of thought and opinion). Turnover should be expected (and for some it should be encouraged) and planned for. Companies should clearly know how deep they are at each critical role and who the most likely successors are. When a position becomes available, the best candidates should be encouraged to apply (along with other interested internal and external applicants).

Don't get caught hurting your customers through bad hiring decisions. The techniques and best practices that lead to the right person with the right competencies doing the right work the right way at the right time have been researched and found to be applicable to companies of all sizes. You can rescue your customers from the least worst candidate.