Why Resumes Don’t Matter!
By Marilyne Woodsmall – www.ScienceOfIdiots.com and author of “Personality Language”
In these challenging economic times, focusing on sales is not the only way to get ahead. One of the areas that some business people forget to consider has to do with the realm of hiring and personnel selection. In light of the fact that so many companies are downsizing and laying workers off at the present time, it is all the more critical that when you do hire someone, that you hire right the first time. The best predictor of future behavior is past history. It is important to realize that it is not what a person says that he or she will do that matters. Rather, it is what the person has done in the past in similar situations (as the job for which he or she is applying) that matters.
Non-behaviorally based interviews do little to predict future job performance. I can’t stress this enough. Conducting behaviorally based interviews is the key to successful hiring. People Patterns™ are highly effective in the process of personnel selection and hiring because they enable an employer to filter out and to match the right person or people to the right job. The hiring is based on solid criteria behavioral rather than on fluff or irrelevant information when it comes to hiring right.
This means hiring the right person for the appropriate job that fits his or her particular skills and People Patterns™. If you ask most employers how they hire people, they will say that their hiring is based on resumes and on interviews. So from the get go, the most effective filtering process is not even considered. There are several reasons why traditional hiring practices don’t work.
First, resumes do not reveal a clear picture of the job candidate since resumes simply summarize job history, tasks performed and perceived skills. Most individuals are not aware of their true competencies to execute a given task.
Second, many individuals out there have become quite skilled at interviewing well. On the surface, they may appear to be charming and articulate. These traits do not reflect behavioral patterns connected to the success or failure of executing a particular task. The latter is a critical piece of the puzzle.
Third, an interviewee’s “espoused theories of action” have nothing to do with what he or she actually does. Besides, what people think or say about their skills or why they want to work is not necessarily credible. When interviewed for a job, a person will often tell the interviewer what he or she thinks that the interviewer wants to hear.
The bottom line is that People Patterns™ will help you to hire right the first time. People Patterns™ will help you, thus, to avoid having to let go of someone and to have to go through the hiring process once again because you didn’t hire right the first time. Furthermore, your hiring right the first time will make a huge difference in your bottom line and in your overall productivity. Over time, I will delve into how each of the People Patterns™ that make up Personality Language™ will help you to refine and to improve upon your hiring process, and in turn, your bottom line.
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