How to Predict Quality of Hire

Quality of hire has become one of the most important metrics to track. It represents the value new employees bring to the company, and therefore demonstrates how effective recruiters are at finding and connecting hiring managers with the right people for each available job.

 

Besides having a financial impact, poor hiring decisions can quite literally act like a rotten apple inside an organisation, destroying the culture from the inside. By establishing the performance objectives and expectations before a person is hired, you can predict if the person will be successful or not. According to the CEO of the Adler Group, which helps companies around the world make hiring top talent a systematic business process, this is what recruiters should keep in mind:

 

1. Define the work through performance objectives

Focus the “job description” on outcomes instead of inputs. Rather than describing a job as a list of skills describe it as a series of performance objectives that define top performance. Find out what kinds of projects the new hires would be working on and what the best people do differently.

 

2. Ask candidates to describe their most comparable accomplishment for each of the performance objectives

Have candidates describe in intense detail what they’ve accomplished that best compares to each of the performance objectives. Fact-finding questions help you fully understand each of the person’s related accomplishments and the underlying environment.

 

3. Plot the growth over time

It’s a positive sign if the person wants to take on more important projects and interface with more senior people. Be concerned if you don’t see this trend throughout the candidate’s career.

 

4. Assess the problem-solving approach

Get into a back-and-forth dialogue with the candidate regarding a significant problem they would face on the job. Assess the quality of his/her problem-solving approach, not the answer. Then ask the person to describe something he/she has accomplished that’s most similar. Keep in mind to base your decision on evidence rather than intuition or emotion.

5. Make sure there’s a two-sided fit

To achieve the quality of hire, a two-sided fit is crucial. The candidate needs to fit the culture and embrace the hire as a valid career move, otherwise, he/she will underperform.

 

The hiring manager’s style has a massive impact on a new hire’s performance. Some managers are delegators, others are micro-managers, some don’t care, and others care too much. It’s up to you to figure out whether there’s a fit or not.

 

6. Look for the ‘achiever pattern’

Find evidence the person has been recognised for performing exceptionally in specific areas. For example, the best people in most functions get assigned stretch projects within 6-12 months after starting a new position. For sales people, it’s making quota year after year.

 

When these factors all signal a go, you’re about halfway there. The other half is determining if the job represents a significant enough career move for the candidate and, if so, getting the candidate to accept your offer. If it doesn’t, accepting the offer would be a waste as the candidate won’t motivated enough and will thus most likely underperform.

 

Another solution for predicting quality of hire is using people analytics, which applies statistics, technology and expertise to large sets of talent data. This data helps recruiters make smarter recruiting decisions.