Fine-tune your hiring process with accurate and robust job role benchmarking.
Poor hiring decisions are costly and disruptive. There is always an element of uncertainty to any new hire or internal recruitment decision. However, establishing a robust benchmark process for your job roles will reduce the risk of being wildly off target.
Job role benchmarking will also help you to avoid the pitfalls of hiring ‘in own image’, a habit that stifles diversity and cramps creativity.
“Getting recruitment wrong is so costly for businesses that many will take perceived shortcuts to try and eliminate as much risk as possible."
Unfortunately, hiring managers can fall into the trap of hiring what is familiar to reduce risk, rather than taking a methodical approach to benchmark for the role. However, while taking the ‘familiar’ route might have worked out in the past, it now exposes organisations to unnecessary risk and cost to both productivity and reputation.
What is a job benchmark?
A job benchmark is the result of the collaboration between stakeholders to create a profile of the ideal set of traits and skills required for a job role.
The stakeholders can be a mix of managers, direct reports, colleagues, top performers and even perhaps clients. These different components can be thought of as the elements of a spider diagram, each feeding a different viewpoint into a central hub. But it would be impossible for any recruiter to compare candidates to a spider diagram.
Instead, Holst’s psychometric assessments use these streams of information to create a chart of what ‘ideal’ could look like. When your candidates complete their psychometric assessment, the recruiter can easily compare the results against the benchmark . From here, the recruiter is able to decide whether to take that individual forward to the next stage. It also crucially helps to identify further questions to ask at interview.
A new development in benchmarking
McQuaig users have long taken good advantage of the McQuaig Job Analysis™ and McQuaig Job Survey® to set their benchmarks. Now we can add further functionality and value with the introduction of the McQuaig Benchmark Management tool.
Previously, recruiters would go through a process of sending individual surveys to stakeholders and candidates. Once received, they would then combine the results to create internal benchmarks in a piecemeal process. While the process worked it was labourious. Now however, recruiters can easily achieve these results using efficient workflows in the McQuaig Benchmark Management tool.
“The process of creating a benchmark using our new tool can visualise alignment and gaps between your team and also help facilitate hiring conversations for that role.”
Why should you revisit your benchmarks?
As with all organisational processes and norms, you should regularly review your job benchmarks. This is especially true as post-pandemic recruitment ramps up. Already we see the rising costs of recruitment, as online jobs boards increase their pricing.
Established roles may now require different skills and traits in the hybrid working era. Recruiters and line managers need to have a fresh approach and understand what is now needed in the role, not what they recruited for in the past. If our office workplaces remain slimmed down, recruiters might need to take into consideration the requirement for new hires to be more adaptable. Those who cope with changes to routine and are largely self-sufficient, might be more appropriate candidates, than those who depend on closely working with others.
McQuaig Benchmark Management helps recruiters to tweak existing profiles benchmarks. Stakeholders can resubmit their assessment of a job role, bearing in mind that this has probably shifted in the last two years.
How easy is it to set up job role benchmarking?
Very! McQuaig Benchmark Management is incredibly user-friendly. We understand that not everyone is a tech expert. And, no one wants to spend hours setting up new processes.
Existing McQuaig users will find the tool easy to implement. It is available through the McQuaig Labs function, contact us to enable use. Those who are new to McQuaig will likewise find the process straightforward and be able to access plenty of expert support both online and in person.
