Damaging Talent Acqusition Prospects: Over-Assessment

Been thinking a lot lately about effective methods for assessing the quality and fit of talent.  I've also been doing a lot of reading on the subject as the ability to attract and retain great talent is not only critical to the health and welfare of the organization but is one of those foundational skills that every leader needs.  What I've come to realize is that many organizations over assess their potential talent and in so doing, actually lose the very people they are trying to attract.

If you or your team members are doing the following, the wrong criteria for talent assessment may be in play at your organization:

• Are your talent assessors hypercritical of others? Are they unwilling to alter initial perceptions based further evidence?
• Do they miss on slow starters or on folks that are at first less expressive than others?
• Do they select primarily on surface characteristics?
• Do they tend to focus on current needs and expectations without factoring in future growth needs?
• Does the interview cycle take overly long? 

To this last point. Each organization has to find its right water level regarding length of time but DON'T over extend the cycle. Make it long enough so that everyone can vet the candidate but not so long as to drive down interest in the position.  I always wonder if we lose quality candidates because of the length of time it takes to vet a candidate. I assume some organizations use the "interview marathon" as a vetting process in and of its own right but I think that's wrong.  Especially in today's economy.  There's great talent out there and there's a lot of competition for that talent - moving too slowly, no matter what the level doesn't give candidates a good feeling about the speed and agility with which that particular organization moves.

Comments

[Stephen Collins]

1.

Great stuff, Steve! If this is the kind of stuff rolling around your head, your should read my wife's blog - http://shiftedhr.com.

Alli blogs on big, HR strategy issues and has some smart stuff to say. She's also @allidc on Twitter.

Great to meet you at e20!

[Steve]

2.

Thanx Stephen... yeah, that's the type of crap rolling around in my head. :) I'll check out your wife's blog and will be sure to start following her on Twitter. Great to meet you as well. Looking forward to getting to know you better.