Hiring Stronger People Starts By Redefining Stronger

To assess potential, ask candidates to describe their greatest accomplishment with the least amount of experience. Reason: aren't the strongest people those who can accomplish more with less?

Last week, I suggested that performance benchmarking is a better approach for preparing a job description than putting together the standard list of competencies, behaviors, skills, experience, and academic requirements. The big reason: performance benchmarking doesn’t automatically eliminate people who are top performers who have less, or a different mix of experience. It also opens the pool to more diverse candidates, top performers from other industries and returning military veterans. (Note: I’ll be hosting a short webcast on January 22 demonstrating how you can conduct a simple proof of this concept.)

The big idea behind performance benchmarking is to ask the hiring manager what the best people in the same role do differently than average performers. These criteria are then used to find, attract and assess candidates. Here’s an example of performance benchmarking in comparison to the more traditional skills- and experience-based approach. The job is for a distribution manager position for a well-known company currently posted on Indeed.com.

Traditional Skills and Experience Infested Job Description for Warehouse Distribution Manager

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience plus a minimum of five years experience in related field.
• 5+ years progressively challenging experience and working knowledge of distribution operations, systems (e.g. WMS) and processes.
• 4+ years progressively challenging experience managing a medium-sized group of non-exempt employees and proven success motivating and mentoring direct reports to high performance standards, reinforcing team-building and providing feedback regarding job performance and conduct.
• Strong communication and leadership skills.
• Ability and willingness to work varied shifts.
• Proficient in PC based applications.
• Possess a sense of urgency required to work in a deadline driven environment.
• Proven decision-making capabilities.

This company has about 50 distribution centers around the country. Following is the performance-based job description equivalent developed by benchmarking the performance of their best distribution managers:

Performance-based Job Description for Warehouse Distribution Manager

• Implement a Six Sigma approach for every phase of warehouse operations. As a result, consistently meet or exceed all annual budget and performance objectives.
• Update and constantly monitor performance metrics to ensure achieving a 24-hour, 100% fill rate with perfect accuracy.
• Work closely with logistics and procurement to reduce backorders to less than .5% of all open orders
• Score the highest on job satisfaction and have the lowest turnover among all 50 distribution centers by developing customized personal development plans for every person in every department.

Based on the above, and assuming you’re the hiring manager, how would you answer these two questions:

1. Is a person who has all of the experience and skills listed guaranteed to achieve the performance results listed? (Hint: of course not.)
2. So who would you rather hire: someone who has the qualifications listed, or someone who could achieve the performance results defined?

If you were the job seeker, which job would you want – one doing more of the same, or one that’s more challenging, more important and one helping you personally grow and develop more rapidly?

Of course, if you’re the traditional HR person, you’ll put up a stink that performance benchmarking is not in compliance with current U.S. labor law. However, as part of the research for The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired I asked one of the top labor attorneys in the U.S. for his thoughts on the validity of performance benchmarking. His full write-up in is the book and here's a link to his findings. Here’s his short summary:

A properly prepared performance profile can identify and document the essential functions of a job better than traditional position descriptions, facilitating the reasonable accommodation of disabilities and making it easier to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws. - David Goldstein, Littler Mendelson

While there are many things that the best hiring managers do differently to hire the best people, one of the most important is clarifying expectations up front. At the webcast you’ll find out how to do this for yourself and even how to conduct a simple proof of concept. For this, just compare the people you meet who have all of the skills and experiences listed to those who have accomplished the comparable results required. You’ll discover that it’s what people do with they have that makes them great, not simply what they have. More important, you'll also discover a new way to find and hire great talent.

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Lou Adler (@LouA) is the CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting firm helping companies implement Performance-based Hiring. He's also a regular columnist for Inc. Magazine and BusinessInsider. His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired (Workbench, 2013), provides hands-on advice for job-seekers, hiring managers and recruiters on how to find the best job and hire the best people. For more hiring advice join Lou's LinkedIn group or follow his Wisdom at Work series on Facebook.

Photo: Shan_shan / shutterstock