Proactive hiring

Modern Machine Shop, March, 1996 by William J. Dorgan, III

Proactive hiring is the best way to hire the right person for the right job. It requires substantial preparation, which involves four stages.

* A clearly defined job description.

Update any previously used job description. A job may require education, skills and capabilities it did not demand previously. Do a position analysis that will reveal the job's current requirements, not its earlier ones:

1. What is the goal of the job and how does it advance the purpose of the work group?

2. What tasks must the employee complete to accomplish this goal?

3. How can these tasks be achieved and through what activities?

Every job has a goal: to advance the work unit's goals, which in turn advance the organization's goals. Every position comprises tasks through which an employee achieves the goal of a job.

* Define the knowledge and skills necessary to do the job.

Consider work history first. What the person really did in earlier positions will tell you if the person has the precise skills, or skills that he or she can transfer, to do the job successfully. Then look at outside factors - volunteer and home-based work - which may have nurtured the candidate's performance on the previous job.

* Determine the formal education and skill training of the applicant.

Distinguish between schooling and training. Schooling teaches students knowledge. It does not necessarily indicate how to implement this knowledge in actual situations. Balance book learning against practical skills. Schooling or training discloses only that the candidate is teachable.

* Affirm the work style and attitude of the company's culture.

Adaptability plays a role in hiring decisions. Not the compatibility between you and the candidate, but the congruity between the candidate and certain environmental factors: the organization's culture, the other people with whom the person will work, and the psychological demands of the job itself. How a candidate works with, gets along with, and communicates with coworkers says more about him or her than reference checks. How the person reacts to supervision, success, failure and conflict also reveals valuable information.