Rethinking Work to Hire a New Breed of Talent

In The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired I demonstrate that posting job descriptions that require a bunch of prerequisites prevents the best people from being considered.

By shifting to a performance qualified approach that defines work as a series of 5-6 KPOs (key performance objectives) the problem is eliminated. Even better, you'll attract the strongest people who would naturally see the opening as a potential career move by tying these KPOs to an important project.

Assessing competency and motivation is straight-foward using this same approach. Just ask the candidates to provide detailed examples of accomplishments most comparable to these KPOs. As you'll discover the mix of skills and experiences the best candidates bring to the table is different than what’s listed in the traditional skills-laden job description. This shift from skills to performance is how you open the talent pool to more diverse and high potential talent and increase assessment accuracy at the same time. To me this is pretty cool.

Creating the KPOs is the difference maker. To figure these out, start by asking the hiring manager what the person needs to do to be successful in the job. This normally includes one or two major objectives and three to four subtasks. For example, a major objective might be, “Lead the effort with design and operations to prepare a two-year product roadmap,” and a subtask might be, "Prepare a competitive analysis of key features within 90 days." This is a lot better than defining the job as, “Must have an MBA, a technical degree, 6-8 years industry experience and a results-oriented attitude.” 

The Four Work Types

Work Types can also be used to develop these performance objectives. In this case work is classified into four distinct categories that map directly to the classic product life cycle. This is shown in the graphic and described below. 

As part of developing the KPOs ask the hiring manager to also develop at least one performance objectives for each Work Type and then select those that are most important for on-the-job success. 

As candidates describe their 2-3 most significant career accomplishments assign them to the appropriate Work Types to see how well they compare to the KPOs on a scope, scale, team and complexity basis. This is a great way for translating accomplishments across different industries and work experiences. 

Understanding the four Work Types will allow you to get started right away using this technique for assessing candidates. 

Thinkers: These people are the idea generators, strategists, and creative types. They’re at the front end of the growth curve and their work covers new products and new ideas. An example of a performance objective for the Thinker could be, “Develop a workaround to the technical bottleneck to ensure the launch date is met.”

Builders: These people take ideas from the Thinkers and convert them into reality. Entrepreneurs, project managers and turnaround executives are typical jobs that emphasize the Builder component. They thrive in rapid change situations, make decisions with incomplete information and can create some level of order out of chaos. “Rebuild the entire product management department in 90 days to support the global launch,” would be an example of a Builder performance objective. 

Improvers: These are the people who take an existing project, process or team, organize it and make it better. Here’s an example: “Develop a detailed plan for upgrading the international reporting system over the next 18 months.”

Producers: Technical skills dominate the Producer Work Type. Most often, the Producer Work Type is a component of the job, for example, combining problem-solving (the Thinker) with some technical process to implement a solution. Here’s an example of a strictly Producer performance objective: “Handle 6-7 inbound calls per day at a 90% resolution rate.”

Regardless of the size or scale, most work requires a mix of different thinking, project management, process improvement and technical skills. Getting the scale, scope and mix right is essential for hiring the right person.  

While foresighted business and talent leaders profess a need to build a global and diverse workforce, they limit themselves by relying on outdated thinking to define the jobs they want filled. It’s important to recognize that a list of skills, experiences and competencies is not a job description; it’s a person description. A job description needs to define the work that needs to be done and the use of Work Types is a great way to rethink work from a modern perspective. 

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Lou Adler (@LouA) is the CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting and training firm helping companies implement Performance-based Hiring. He's also a regular columnist for LinkedIn, Inc. Magazine, SHRM and BusinessInsider. His new Performance-based Hiring self-paced learning course - The Hiring Machine - is now available 24/7. His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired (Workbench, 2013) provides hands-on advice for job-seekers, hiring managers and recruiters on how to find the best job and hire the best people.