What Type of Pig? Top Employee or Top Candidate?

About 13 years ago, Tim Brennan (CEO of Canada’s Hire Right, Inc.) wrote this article for my newsletter. I’ve reprinted it twice in the past, because his point is timeless!

I must admit, though, I had never put it in the context of our current series on pigs as a metaphor for candidates, but consider this:

• Imagine that your business is finding wild truffles and bringing them to market at a couple of thousand dollars per ounce.

• Since you can’t smell truffles when they are underground, your “employees” are pigs, whose superior sense of smell allows them to find truffles, even when they are deep underground.

Soooo…one of your best pigs has retired, and you need to hire a replacement. In selecting for this position, critical to your business, you have a short list of what you’re looking for:

• Must be a fast learner, as the training for this position is long and expensive.

• Must move fast, so it can cover more ground than a slow pig.

• Must be really, really good at locating truffles and digging them up.

 YOU FOUND YOUR IDEAL CANDIDATE! This pig checked all the boxes, so we sent him/her off to the expensive training…now, we are ready to reap the benefits! You turn your prize new hire loose, and, sure enough, you’ve never seen a pig move so fast! Suddenly, the pig stops, begins digging frantically, and up comes a whole cluster of truffles, worth thousands! As you run toward the successful find, though, the pig quickly EATS THEM ALL!

As the pig runs off in search of more, you realize you made the error that Tim warned us about…you hired your top candidate, not your top employee. If only you had assessed the pig’s appetite for truffles…

Let us help you predict whether your top candidates are likely to turn out to be top performers…

TOP EMPLOYEES...OR TOP CANDIDATES? WHICH DO YOU SELECT?

BY TIM BRENNAN

Peter Drucker has said, "Executives spend more time on managing people and people decisions than on anything else, and they should. No other decisions are so long-lasting in their consequences or so difficult to unmake and yet, by and large, executives make poor promotion and staffing decisions. By all accounts, their batting average is no better than .333: At most, one third of such decisions turn out right; one-third are minimally effective; and one-third are outright failures. In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance.” In a sampling of management workshop participants, we have asked, “Do you agree with Mr. Drucker?”

We have found, most agree; and, they have provided an additional, important insight: Just because the people decision turned out to be a mistake, that does not imply the person leaving the new job! In many cases, the new hire falls short of expectations in some major way, and should never have been hired; others require too much supervision. Often, though, they remain on the job, because (for managers) accepting poor performance is easier than going out finding a replacement! When we hire a new person to come into our business we share the expectation they will be the “right one”, or we would not have hired them. Why, then, are we so often disappointed? Our research suggests the answer may be a missed point of focus: We are trying to find and hire top candidates rather than top employees! They are not the same.

 In conversations with recruiters and employers across Canada, we have compiled this list of the characteristics of top candidates :

•  Good Resume

•  Good Skills

•  On time for interview

•  Prepared for interview

•  Good communicator

•  Enthusiastic

•  Great first impression

•  Aggressive jobseeker

•  Interested in you

•  Interested in company

•  Good follow up

•  Poised and confident

Anything missing on the list? Looks rather attractive, doesn’t it? Consider this: Using this list, would all of your top employees today be considered top candidates ?

Our respondents have given us the following list of characteristics of top employees :

•  Highly motivated to work

•  Competent

•  Do more than required

•  Do not make excuses

•  Anticipate problems

•  Solve problems

•  Take initiative

•  Learn quickly

•  Committed

•  Focused

•  Consistent

•  Strong team player

•  Loyal

Did you notice, there’s not much overlap between the two lists? To improve your odds of hiring right, the first time, give careful thought to the qualities of your top employees, then look for those qualities in those you hire. A good assessment can help you measure both, instead of guessing!