Can we prepare our workforce for the future?

From the desk of Val Schoenherr

February 2009

The other day someone sent me a link to a You Tube video. This clip talks about the exponential growth of our world population, global economy and the amazing rate at which technology evolves. It is a very striking piece. After watching it I realized that my mother wasn't so far off base for insisting her kids get a solid liberal arts education, saying, "Above all it is most important to learn how to learn.".

The You Tube clip asserts that over 1/2 of the technology learned by students during a 4 year technical degree will be outmoded before graduation and students are currently preparing for jobs that the world has not yet conceived.

Considering this assertion, how important is it then, that when we evaluate our candidates and employees for future work that we do so with a more holistic perspective? We should be asking ourselves " What are the capabilities of this person?". Not, "What has this person done in the past?". By understanding the individual's innate characteristics an employer or coach has a better ability to plan future projects, organize workflow and guide training. Tools that assess the individual's cognitive capabilities, behavioral characteristics and underlying interests such as the Profile XT offer the ability to view a person from the inside-out. When we combine this information with a knowledge of their basic skills we can then develop a workforce that is prepared for the rapidly changing world of business in the 21st Century.

Click here to view the clip.

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 asked, "Do you agree with Drucker"? We found that most do agree and they provided an additional, important insight: just because the hiring decision turned out to be a mistake, that does not imply that the person hired left the new job. Although in many cases, the new hire falls short of expectations and should never have been hired or he or she requires too much supervision ? often they remain on the job because (for managers) accepting poor performance is easier than 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 Résumé
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

Is 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 gave 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 is 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!