June 30th, 2008 admin
Gordon Finlay, a Software Development Manager at Teleflex Power Systems, asked an excellent question on LinkedIn today, about whether software recruits should be screened on technical skill or aptitude.
“Why do some (but not all) technical recruiters for software developers place so much emphasis on screening or filtering candidates with specific technical skills or experience with particular toolsets rather than on the overall competence level of an applicant? Why do we not also consider bright candidates with backgrounds in similar environments, particularly if they possess strong soft skills (e.g. good ability to discuss requirements with a team or the customer), they get things done, and they have an aptitude for learning quickly?”
I promised Gordon that I would post a section from our upcoming white paper (”Three Major Hiring Frustrations - How to Overcome Them and Make Quick Confident Selection Decisions”) that speaks directly to this issue, which I’ve done below. The paper is not in its final draft as yet, so I would certainly appreciate hearing comments and suggestions from readers on how it might be improved. So, without further adieu…
Solution: Having Enough of the Right Information
The key thing to realize is that most major hiring frustrations are primarily a result of not having enough objective job-related information on which to base decisions - information hiring managers could use to build more efficient selection processes, increase their confidence level, and ultimately better predict the future performance of their candidates.
Predicting any type of outcome is dependant on having enough of the right type of information, and possessing the sound reasoning and qualifications required to gather and use this data appropriately.
…
What is the right type of information?
In the case of employee selection, you cannot develop an effective selection process without first knowing how to identify a top performer and understanding the attributes that lead to their exceptional success. Fortunately, research has provided us with a great deal of insight into what general qualities impact on performance and how we can go about uncovering the more specific traits that explain success in a particular job, in your specific organization. Let’s talk about each of these in turn and describe how you might uncover them for your next hiring project.
First, the magic bullet. 
Cognitive Ability.
Also known as intelligence, general mental ability, or problem-solving skill, cognitive ability has repeatedly been proven to relate very well to an employee’s ability to effectively solve problems, learn and benefit from experience and education, adapt to changing issues and circumstances, and even helps determine the employee’s level of job satisfaction. In fact, cognitive ability is one of the most valid indicators of future job performance in any role, particularly for positions that are relatively complex in nature (e.g., professional, managerial, sales), and certainly should be one of the cornerstones of any hiring project.
Even better, however, is that cognitive ability also interacts with key elements in the resume to redeem a practice (reviewing resumes) that to this point has been one of the worst ways to screen potential applicants. Which brings us to the next set of attributes for success.
Experience and Education.
Although many hiring managers consider experience and education alone when making critical screening decisions, the fact is that these two factors do not relate well to job performance when considered independently. However, when cognitive ability is put into the mix, standard experience and educational information becomes much more relevant.
This makes complete sense, if you consider that, while experience and education provide the opportunity to learn and improve skill level, they do not offer any indication of whether applicants were actually capable of benefiting from the experience. For example, we all know of senior employees who have not learned much from their many years of experience, just as we know very talented, intelligent, and eager junior hires who take their few years of training and use it to consistently perform beyond our expectations.
In essence, cognitive ability is the most critical factor in determining candidate potential, and experience and education determine how much of that potential they have realized. 
This interaction is so important that it deserves more attention and perhaps a graphical explanation to help drive the point home. Have a look at the graphs to the right. In the first situation, three people have applied for a particular role, the first with 4 years of experience (Jane), the second with 6 years (Bob), and a third with 10 (Sally).
Using resume information alone, you would likely hire Sally, considering that she is the most experienced candidate, and assuming that she also made a good impression during the interview. Unfortunately, you would know little about Sally’s cognitive ability, or her capability of learning and benefiting from her experience. In other words, you would not know if she has reached her limits of performance or has more room to learn and grow.
However, if we had tested her cognitive ability, it would have been clear that she had already learned much of what she could after about six years on the job (see the curved line in the second graph), and that she does not necessarily have the problem-solving skills required to use this experience to her best advantage. 
Bob and Jane also help demonstrate the importance of measuring cognitive ability and understanding how it relates to one’s performance potential. As you can see in the second graph, both individuals are about average in terms of their job performance, even though Bob has more experience. Perhaps you would choose Bob for that reason (i.e. “they both look like good candidates, but Bob has an extra two years under his belt, so I guess we should choose him”).
However, if you had measured cognitive ability, you would know that Jane has much more room to grow; in other words, she has simply not had the time or training required to reach her potential as yet, while Bob has just about reached his peak. In fact, while Jane is an average performer now, she is smart enough to acquire, understand and use quite sophisticated concepts in the field given the opportunity, and be one of the best people on the team in future.
Of course, there are other factors that determine an individual’s performance potential, which you will need to uncover through an objective job analysis. Qualities such as…
Personality or Behavioural Style.
In addition to evaluating more general factors such as cognitive ability, you will also need to consider the traits that are important to success in a particular role, and in your specific organization. This typically includes determining whether candidates possess a certain type and level of technical knowledge as well as the personality factors (i.e., approach to people and problems) that indicate a proper fit with the position and organization.
To uncover these personality factors, you would need to conduct a job analysis and consider three issues that will help you build a comprehensive description of the ideal employee.
- Objectives to be achieved at the organizational, departmental, and position level.
- Tasks that provide the means for employees to achieve their position-level objectives.
- Attributes that enable employees to perform these tasks to a high level of performance.
For example, let’s assume that you are a hiring manager at Ben and Jerry’s who needs to hire a Flavour Developer to think up tempting new tastes of ice cream (a real job, by the way!). First, consider Ben and Jerry’s key organizational objective:
To make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.
This objective is accomplished through the collaboration of many different departments, one of which, product development, employs our Flavour Developers. As a team, the key objective for the product development department may, in turn be:
To ensure that new flavours meet strict quality standards set out by the organization, can be produced using current Earth-friendly technology, and are unique yet appealing to a wide audience of consumers.
Clearly, the proper departmental focus will help the organization itself succeed, and knowing the organizational objective is 
critical in determining what this focus should be.
Finally, let’s consider the purpose of the particular role for which we are developing a hiring process. To help the department meet its objective, a Flavour Developer may simply be required:
To create unique and appealing new flavours of ice cream.
Again, you need to know what the department’s objective is before setting one for the role or employee. A successfully completed objective at the role level will help the department achieve part of its objective, and objectives completed by the department help the organization at large succeed in achieving an important part of its mandate. Every level of the company is intricately linked.
Of course, there is nothing in the above statements that indicate how the employee should go about meeting the objective, or tell us about the qualities that determine top performance in the role. For that, we need to first outline the tasks that are expected of employees in the position. For example,
Talking to local restaurants to discover new popular dessert flavours.
Providing a number of possible ice cream recipes to the manufacturer, along with a list of approved ingredients.
Conducting focus groups to evaluate the appeal of various new flavour combinations.
Then, with this list of tasks as a guide, you can create a list of competencies and attributes that the ideal employee in the role should possess in order to complete tasks to a high level of performance. For example, two of the above listed tasks require that the employee conduct various forms of research. That said, some of the attributes we may want to measure when assessing potential hires include:
Attention to detail.
Written communication skills.
Numerical reasoning skills.
So, if applicants for the role score poorly on a valid test of “Attention to detail,” then it is very likely that the quality of their research will suffer and, in turn, will negatively impact on their ability to come up with unique and appealing new flavours.
It may seem like a lot of work to develop these lists of attributes but doing so is critical to developing an effective screening and assessment process. In turn, it will greatly decrease the amount of time it takes to evaluate potential candidates, and greatly increase the certainty you have that particular individuals will succeed. If in doubt about such a process, please contact a professional with a background in job analysis (e.g., Industrial/Organizational Psychology) who can provide assistance.
So, at this point, we know that we need to assess cognitive ability, expertise (i.e., experience, education, technical knowledge), and various personality attributes important to success. However, the more sophisticated employer will also consider two other factors, when making hiring decisions, to ensure that new hires apply themselves, stay with the organization as long as possible, and otherwise reach their true potential.
Motivation and Development Needs.
Even if you hired the smartest person in their field, whose personality precisely matched that of your best employees, there is no guarantee that they will use their gifts to their full advantage.
First of all, they need to be interested and engaged in the projects and tasks that you provide them and motivated to apply themselves. Although not often measured at the selection stage (if at all), this is really the perfect point at which to understand the benefits that you can offer to candidates in order to retain them and keep them engaged. For example, you may find out that your top candidates work best autonomously, need to know that their efforts are acknowledged, and have greatly disliked working for managers that do not appreciate their requirement for a flexible work schedule. Put those individuals with a bureaucratic micromanager and suddenly you have a group of high-potential low performers.
Secondly, you should consider the potential development needs that could get in the way of great candidates reaching their true potential in a certain role. Even the very intelligent person, with the right personality and the motivation to achieve may be limited by a lack of skill or a bad habit in certain areas, a gap that could be overcome with the right training, coaching, or development plan. Considering that a well-developed selection process should be providing you with comprehensive details on each candidate, this is an excellent opportunity to gauge the degree of improvement needed and to start putting in place strategies to help chosen candidates succeed.
…the white paper then discusses “How do we get this information?” (practical action steps in developing an effective hiring process) and “How Much is Enough?” (issues to consider in ensuring that the process is as efficient as possible).
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