Hiring Employees: Capabilities, Character, and Chemistry
Well, it’s the NFL offseason for sure. Ever wish WE had an offseason? Wouldn’t it be nice to get off the merry-go-round of “playing” and really think about the future of our business? We could take the time to hire the right people who are able to do the job, have high character, and “fit” with our existing team. The NFL has this luxury. Months before the first kickoff is booted, the NFL Draft signals the beginning of the season. It’s a closely watched, much celebrated ritual by diehard fans like me, as new players enter pro football from college. Coaches look for new players with certain strengths and skill sets to balance out any weak positions on their teams. The first event to evaluate talent covers the first of my three criteria for hiring: Capabilities. It is called the NFL Combine and it happened last week: a very rigorous six-day job fair for prospective players. More than 300 players go through a series of drills, tests, and interviews with over 600 NFL scouts, head coaches and their assistants, general managers, and team owners. The players complete drills: running the 40-yard dash, bench pressing weights, doing vertical and broad jumps, the 3-cone drill, and the 20-yard shuttle (where a player runs from sideline to sideline as fast as possible, demonstrating lateral mobility). This is the NFL’s main method of assessing capabilities and credentials.
Seems like a lot of trouble, just to find a few guys who can run or pass or knock down other guys, doesn’t it? Maybe. But there’s a lot of importance placed on getting the right person for the right job, and therein lies the important lesson for us—recruiting the right people for the team is vital!
If you’re in a position to select new hires, you might ask yourself: what would it take to approximate the NFL Combine for recruiting the best candidates for job openings in your company? In what ways could the candidate’s capabilities be tested, measured, or verified? What series of job-related exercises equivalent to jumping, dashing, and shuttling could you put them through to have a better sense of how they might fit? How about testing their computer skills or having them conduct sample marketing calls during your interview? Maybe you could conduct group interviews so existing team members have the opportunity to give potential recruits the once-over.
Capabilities count, for sure. But considering that players who seem to be the top Draft picks don’t always work out as expected, be careful about getting blindsided by the qualifications of what appears to be an exceptionally talented candidate. A coach or general manager can easily be impressed with the lightning speed of the candidate with the fastest time in the 40-yard dash. But how will that player perform in all the other aspects of the game including when he’s off the field? The other two criteria for hiring—Character and Chemistry—will be covered in my next blogs. After all, the NFL Draft is right around the corner. And YOUR Draft could be anytime you have a job to fill!