By Paul Croteau

With all of the news stories outlining our economic woes, some leaders are either considering, or are actively, pulling back on the recruitment of new hires at their organizations. These leaders have adopted a strategy of leaving critical positions vacant rather than reaching out and hiring a new person. In other words, these managers are prepared to pass the work on to other employees rather than take a chance on finding and hiring a new employee.

In my view, this strategy is just outright “wrongheaded” thinking. In difficult times, organizations need strong, high-performing employees. Organizations that will successfully pull through this recession need to have highly-skilled individuals who have a strong positive attitude and whose values and personal motivation compliments your vision and direction. To keep your critical positions vacant just because it is the easy thing to do, is completely foolhardy. Moreover, not filling critical positions forces the workload on to other key team members who, as a result, may burn out or leave due to the extra workload and stress.  Consequently, you are left with two vacancies and an even bigger problem to resolve.

Hiring a new employee is not a game of chance. Today’s methodologies and assessment strategies are sophisticated enough that hiring processes are well managed and decisions are made carefully. If the issue is related to a lack of confidence in conducting the recruitment and selection yourself, then consult with an executive search specialist. These professionals are highly trained and can be very valuable in assisting you to find the right person. At the same time, look at your own internal processes and make sure you are utilizing up to date strategies.

One of the challenges organizations most often encounter that results in poor hires is the fact that the job itself is not well defined and the skills and selection criteria are not well developed. First of all, take a look at all the tasks and activities included in the job. Is the job considered a “whole” job? In other words, will the new incumbent be able to start and finish a task or will he or she have to send along unfinished work to a colleague. Jobs that are considered “whole” jobs are much more attractive to individuals because it allows them the opportunity to consistently gain a sense of accomplishment.

Once you have defined the tasks, then you need to examine the skills and capabilities required for the job. What level of skill is required? Is the job a specialist or a generalist role in your organization? Ask yourself what activities in the job would motivate a person to apply. Then ask how the job can continually motivate a new employee. Think of the job in the terms of an individual looking at an opportunity. In many cases, because you are so close to the job itself, you take it for granted and forget what all is involved. Once you have all the tasks and skills defined, develop a written profile describing your organization, its culture and the opportunity.

Next, ask if the skills you are requiring are available in the marketplace or if they need to be learned on the job. Ask yourself where you will find a candidate with these skills? This will give you guidance in conducting the search for your new employee.

The next big challenge is reviewing the resumes and interviewing the candidates. Make yourself a checklist to help you assess the resumes. You can weight the selection criteria and create a scoring sheet if you want but whatever it is, you need to have some means of selecting the appropriate candidates for the job.

The hardest task in recruitment for inexperienced leaders is the candidate interview. The most effective strategy is called “behaviour-descriptive” interviewing. This requires that questions be directly related to the skills in the job. The questions ask for specific examples of where the individuals applied the skill. They focus on the best time, the most challenging time, the most recent time, etc. Once again, scoring the answers is important. You need to listen carefully. You also need to brainstorm the answers and experience that you would expect individuals to have as they come and present before you. Create a scoresheet and write your notes on this document.

Another leading-edge practice that can be easily applied in any organization is the application of a candidate assessment tool. There are many in use today. There are assessments for general aptitude, for leadership and communication style and an assessment to determine the potential for employee theft of problems with alcohol or drugs. These assessments are well structured, easy to apply and deadly accurate.

Taking the step to recruit a new employee is nothing to fear. It is a very systematic process. In fact, leaders should be more fearful of what will happen when they focus on keeping positions vacant.  Tough times require great employees … people who can keep a positive attitude and sustain their own motivation. In addition, tough times are a good time to recruit new staff. There are plenty of high performers out there who would be attracted to your opportunity.

Research and review by Paul Provost, 6P Marketing

Paul Croteau, B.Comm., CMA, FCMA is a member of Waterhouse Executive Search Partners, a Canada-wide executive search firm. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 204-943-0553.