Look for Blind Spots When Recruiting

Surround yourself with awesome people and you will achieve awesome results! This is something that I am hearing a lot lately – how the company that you keep defines how far in life you will go. You may think this is most relevant in our personal lives however it applies equally as well in our work world as well.

Look around you. Are you hiring people who are just like you? Who think, act and speak just as you would? There is great comfort in being surrounded by people who agree with us, who reinforce our thinking and who don’t challenge the status quo. But, great comfort doesn’t always bring great results.

Organizational leaders can achieve great results when they do in fact challenge their status quo and they hire people who aren’t just like them, who don’t always agree and who aren’t afraid to do things differently. This is what stimulates growth and breeds innovation – two things that can make all the difference to the success of an organization.

“Organizational leaders can achieve great results when they challenge status quo & hire people who are different than they are.“

Over the years, it has been seen time and time again that this is also an area where we can have our blinders on. We don’t always see where we are limiting our hiring options and when we are discounting people in the hiring process because they “just don’t seem like the right fit.” Perhaps they are too different from us or have a very different style from what we are used to. Blinders can also be present when we only see how someone is “perfect” for the position because they are exactly like us, even though they may not have the skills we need.

So, how do you know if you have blinders on and aren’t seeing your blind spots? Here are a few tactics for you to make sure you are going into a hiring situation, eyes wide open.

• Craft a very clear Ideal Candidate Profile™ that lists everything you want in a candidate and then ask yourself if those criteria are important because they are different or the same as you and your skills. Make sure the criteria relates back to the job itself to ensure that they will be successful in doing the work.
• Involve others in the process and get their opinions. Be open to the feedback and encourage everyone to share openly what their thoughts are on a candidate.
• When evaluating candidates, be open about the fact that the possibility of wearing blinders might exist and then ask those around you if there are things you aren’t seeing (both positive and negative) about the person you are considering hiring.

Taking the time up front to assess the influence you are having on the selection process is as important as all the other steps in the recruitment cycle!

Your Engaged Assignment: Check yourself and look for your blind spots. Do you have any blinders on in your recruitment process right now?