How to Reduce the Risk of Hiring
By Dan Raymond, Performance Consultant, &
Karen VanKampen, Director of Performance Consulting

WANTED: The best qualified candidate for the job. All others need not apply.

Wouldn't it be great if hiring were this easy? Unfortunately, it's anything but. Companies lose billions of dollars each year by hiring the wrong people. Why is hiring so difficult? Because the odds are stacked against recruiting professionals. According to Fortune Magazine, 66% of all job applicants stretch the truth on their resumes. Compounding the problem, statistics show that a typical interview increases the likelihood of choosing the best candidate by only 2%!

As a performance improvement professional, you are in a unique position to help your organization minimize the risk of mis-hires. How? By applying the principles of performance technology to design and develop a Criterion-Referenced Instruction (CRI)-based Candidate Selection Tool that can help recruiting personnel pinpoint the best-qualified candidate(s) for any particular job. Here are some tips to help you develop an effective candidate selection tool:

Describe the Job in Detail
The first, most important step in developing a candidate selection tool is to come up with a well-written job description that captures the most critical components of a particular job. This job description should include:

1. Specific, observable, and measurable job tasks
2. Specific, observable, and measurable human characteristics

A Case in Point: CEP recently helped Hilton Hotels Corporation develop a CRI-based candidate selection tool for the Director of Revenue Management (DRM) position. Using job and goal analysis, CEP transformed non-specific job task descriptions and human characteristics into specific items that recruiters could easily measure. For example:

Assess Whether Candidates Meet the Requirements of the Detailed Job Description
With a detailed job description in hand, the job of the recruiter focuses on determining whether a candidate can or cannot perform according to the job description requirements. Every candidate selection procedure, including resume and/or work sample reviews, interviews, tests, social interactions, and reference checks, should integrate the critical job task details and human characteristics required for the position.

With respect to Hilton, CEP provided the following tools to help recruiters find the best qualified DRM candidates:

• Resume Evaluation Checklist: CEP developed a checklist to help recruiters determine which candidates to schedule for interviews. The form listed specific information for recruiters to look for, including evidence of hotel industry experience, management experience, educational background, familiarity with specific software programs, overall professionalism, etc.
  
  
• Interview Tool: CEP developed a list of behavior-based questions to help recruiters assess each candidate's prior work experience and capabilities. For example, to determine a candidate's ability to develop hotel pricing, a behavior-based question would read as follows: "Tell me about a specific instance when you were required to develop hotel pricing. How did you go about doing that? What information sources did you use?" CEP also developed an interview evaluation form to help recruiters assess candidate responses.
  
  
• Review Work Samples Tool: CEP also developed a tool to help recruiters request and review work samples. For the DRM position, the job aid specified that the work samples should be analytical or technical documents produced in a current or recent job assignment. The job aid also included questions to help recruiters evaluate the quality of the work samples.
  
  
• Work Simulation Exercises: For "finalist" candidates, CEP came up with exercises that would give recruiters an opportunity to observe candidates completing a specified task in a simulated work environment. The exercises were designed to validate the candidates' skills and their ability to apply them in realistic, work-related situations. In one exercise, for example, candidates assumed the role of a hotel DRM. Armed with appropriate data, the candidates received a series of "phone calls" for room bookings and were responsible for deciding, while still on the phone with each caller, whether or not to take the reservation at the rate being requested.

The Benefits of CRI-Based Candidate Selection
Hilton has used the DRM candidate selection tool with great success. According to the Corporate Director of Revenue Management and Training Programs, "We used the tool when recruiting at several universities. We hired 18 Revenue Management Analysts (aspiring DRMs) and, for the past six months, all of them have been very successful and are performing well. The tool qualifies candidates so well that we know they will be successful." In fact, since the introduction of the DRM candidate selection tool, there has been zero turnover in employees hired using this tool.

In addition to minimizing the risk of hiring the wrong job candidates, a CRI-based candidate selection tool can also help your organization meet legal requirements* by:

• Focusing only on job-related requirements, and
• Ensuring consistency in the selection system used for all candidates

For more information on how CEP can help you design and develop CRI-based candidate selection tools, contact Paula Alsher at 770-458-4080.