UTILIZING INCUMBENT PROFILES TO IDENTIFY SUCCESSFUL HIRES
The best way to identify the top candidate for a position is to determine the profile of the most successful incumbent. There’s no arguing with success. Yes, sometimes we can be short-sighted and cling tight to the belief that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
However, when it comes to hiring the best candidate, knowing what’s worked in the past by utilizing incumbent profiles will help move you closer to making a successful hire. Think about it? If you don’t know who has been successful and why, how are you going to know what will or won’t work?
Start by gathering information from the person who is currently the most successful at performing the job (let’s just hope it’s not the terminating employee!). And please don’t assume that it’s the person who has held the position the longest. They may just be stuck in the mud spinning their wheels.
No, instead look for the person that stands out from the pack, gets the highest performance ratings, routinely receives compliments from internal and external sources, and makes an overall impact on the success of the department and the organization.
Now sit down and interview this person. Gather all you can about what they do and how they do it. Talk to the hiring manager and get their take on what makes this person successful. Compare your notes to the job description and see where things align or diverge. Once you’ve done all this, develop your successful incumbent profile
This profile should not only include basics about skills and experience required, but it should have those intangibles such as personality type. After you’ve identified what a successful candidate looks like for this particular position in this particular department, you will be better equipped to go out and find the best candidate to match.
All it takes is a little time, energy and forethought on your part to prepare an in-depth incumbent profile that will ultimately lead you to the most successful hire.
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To be even more succinct, this old adage rings true: History repeats itself!
If there are common factors in all of your successful employees you should stake out others who possess those same qualities. Although you can never get a guarantee from this I think it is likely one might get the same, or similar, results if they stick to this kind of hiring practice.
Hiring for talent uses the profile of the most successful employees in a job as the benchmark for future hires for teh same job. However, the profile cannot be acquired through interviews.