Even if they outsource the preliminary steps involved, such as identifying and screening candidates and assessing their hard skills, leaders must eventually make the ultimate decision about which candidate to hire.
Without the skill and knowledge required to hire the right fit, they often make expensive mistakes in selecting the wrong person.
Most leaders have no trouble assessing an individual’s hard skills. A CFO can readily assess financial expertise, for example, while a marketing executive can easily assess marketing skills. Soft skills are not so readily apparent. Those are the essential traits that an individual needs to fit into an organization, to work smoothly with his or her team and to fulfil or exceed the leader’s expectations.
Without the skill and knowledge to assess these soft skills, leaders often rely on gut feel.
“But just as planning and executing a successful change management initiative or rebranding campaign requires more than gut feel alone, so, too, does the selection of the right people.”
Few leadership courses include lessons in hiring for fit. In fact, standard lists of important leadership skills seldom include the skill involved in hiring for fit. And yet leaders understand its importance to the success of their organizations.
To address this oversight and to provide an opportunity for leaders to acquire this skill, I provide a training program in Hiring for Fit.
Based on my years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of senior executives to make better hiring decisions, avoid costly hiring mistakes and hire the strongest individuals and teams for their organizations. Now you, too, can acquire this essential skill by learning how to Hire for Fit.
For program details, please email:
JANET WEBB BIO:
With a background in teaching, Janet Webb, B.Ed., spent over 30 years in Retained Executive Search. She is regarded as an expert in determining and assessing fit, and is the author of HIRING FOR FIT: A KEY LEADERSHIP SKILL and the HIRING FOR FIT APP.