Sunday, June 19, 2011

Fit Happens

This post is the sixth installment in a six-part series by guest blogger, Jay Forte, Humanetrics LLC.  Jay is scheduled to kick off the 2011 Image Conference with "The Greatness Zone" general session on Wednesday, July 13. Later in the day, Jay will present two additional sessions: “Will You Fit Here? The Talent Based Approach to Find and Hire the Right Employee” and “Intellectual Age Recruiter - Becoming a Strategic Business Partner”. Register for the Image Conference today to hear Jay!


Fit Happnes
Jay Forte, Humanetrics LLC. 
www.FireUpYourEmployees.comwww.TheGreatnessZone.com
Marie was hired into a customer service role for a large international distributor. Her responsibility, in addition to doing the daily service tasks, was to provide “consistently exceptional service.” Based on her robust resume of previous work experience, the company expected great results.  Marie failed.

Marie consistently lost her temper with customers who did not know how to order, had questions or required a second explanation of a product solution. She did not accommodate any changes to how she provided service – no personal touch – all customers were dealt with in the same efficient, but impersonal, manner. As Marie openly said, “I don’t really like people – but I’ll deal with them to get the job done.” Quite a first impression for a customer.


Marie may have been a great person (I’m sure her parents love her), but she is a misfit for this role; the role needed certain consistent behaviors that were not part of her core abilities. Fit didn’t happen.


Time after time I see organizations relying on candidates’ past skills or experience as the exclusive method for hiring. And though there may be mandatory role skill requirements, it is critical to also assess a candidate’s “fit” for the role – what the talents, strengths and passions are to be successful in the role.


Regardless of what our parents may have told us, we are not great at everything. But we are great at some things. When we discover these personal areas of greatness, we then can assess our world – what roles need what we do best – and can find our fit. Fit happens.


I find there are two primary problems in today’s recruiting effort:

1.      The organization does not clearly define the core abilities needed to be successful in the role,
2.      Job seekers do not know themselves well enough to know their unique talents, strengths and passions.
Today’s recruiters must help organizations better define the required attributes in each role, and state them in their sourcing process. They must also require job seekers to spend time discovering and articulating their unique abilities. Only then can the two sides meet in the middle for a meaningful process committed to finding the right person for the right job. Then, fit happens.

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3 comments:

  1. This story about Marie is a classic example of a mismatch between the candidate and the job. "Excellent customer service skills" seems to be common verbiage in job descriptions and job postings these days. However, it can be challenging for recruiters and hiring managers to assess this skill during the interview process. Here are some possible questions to ask:


    - Describe a recent situation when you had to handle a dissatisfied and angry customer.

    -Give me an example of a time when you were not able to meet a commitment to a customer
    (internal or external). What did you do?

    - Can you tell me about a time when you did some thing extra, which was not part of the routine activities assigned to you, but you did it for the benefit of the customer?

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