Selecting People for Changing Roles

For too long, talent selection has been the responsibility of a select few who have based their decisions on a narrow set of criteria. The limitations of this type of “tunnel vision” in the recruitment planning process have resulted, for many organizations, in a lack of talent diversity and a failure to adapt to a changing world.

For instance, Gallup research shows that at the managerial level, organizations fail to pick high-talent candidates 82% of the time.

Recruiting and assessing people for new and evolving roles tends to involve some guesswork around what that new role should look like and which competencies and technical skills might be required at each level. Additionally, consulting hiring managers and subject matter experts may result in the following:

• Narrow definition of roles as they are performed currently
• Over-engineering the role above and beyond what is possible
• A consistency gap internally between the new role and other roles across your organization

If people are your most important asset, the most important decision you can make is who you hire and who you promote. Having a robust, talent-based selection process can support and better inform those decisions, and ultimately, will help you achieve better business results.