Are you focused in the right area when screening for talent
When you look to sell your company one day, the acquirer is very likely going to size up your team to see what talent they will be adding to theirs. This makes the decision of adding key personnel to your team, especially senior level talent, not only important today but also important to your future exit.
Too often, many executives aren’t good at screening for this needed talent. The issue we see is that executives miss a key element when conducting an interview. They miss whether the candidate in front of them would be the strongest at achieving the deliverables needed to be achieved by this role.
Executives will interview for education, work experience, cultural fit and these are important. But, what you want to be most clear on is in the first 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years – what are the specific deliverables you will need from this position. Once you are clear on targeted deliverables, and be as tangible as possible in identifying them, then craft your interview questions.
You could interview candidates that meet various criteria within your job description for the role. But that’s not to say they will be the right candidate for achieving the deliverables you’ve set. Very often job descriptions are broad and vague, get specific as it relates to deliverables.
Starting today, when you are screening for key talent to join your team, supplement your interviewing by identifying the deliverables for the role. Once you are clear on these, then set your interview questions to look for the experience and skills that directly relate to your desired deliverables. Taking this step will have you conducting better screening and could have you on a better path for adding talent than can help you accelerate building the worth of your business.
