Filling job opening for your company is an important process, requiring the best staffing strategies. Hiring new personnel does not only mean finding the best people for those certain jobs, but also finding the best people for the company. Efficiency now goes beyond the simple abilities for a job or another, but it involves a more complex combination of skills and qualities.
As a human resources specialist, whenever you need to fill a certain position, there are several factors you must take into consideration. First of all, before you start seeking candidates for a job opening, you need to determine exactly what skills and qualities you are looking for. For this reason, many companies nowadays use competency modeling, a process designed to find the essential characteristics of top performers. Starting from this model, companies look for candidates that would fit the description.
In fact, competency modeling is an extremely efficient way to asses you actual talent needs. It is simply a matter of determining what particular combination of skills, qualities and attitudes lead to the best performance. This strategic method is not only the basis of excellent hiring decisions, but also for successful training and development strategies.
The competency modeling can be applied to any function within a company, because the basic objective remains the same: determine what particular mix of skills and qualities leads to the best performance and results in that function. This method will not guarantee that you will find the perfect match between the model and the prospective employee, but it will help get as close as possible. Basically, if you cannot find that exact mix of competencies, at least you'll find the next best thing.
Having a frame of reference with which to work throughout the hiring process will be very helpful and productive. It will allow you to identify more accurately any skill deficits, as well as filling in the gaps with proper training. And I know you're probably thinking that it's easier said than done, but actually creating a competency model is not exactly rocket science. First of all, interview the top performers currently employed at your company. Discuss their jobs and performances, and try to determine what is it that makes them so good at what they do. What are the key skills and characteristics that allow them to be successful, basically, what do they have that others don't? Interview several top performers, and determine what personality traits they share, as well as attitudes and values that they have in common. After relevant discussions with your key players, you will eventually see a sort of pattern, a trait or attribute that they all share. These common skills and qualities will consist the basis of your competency model.
