Hiring the wrong candidates costs the country billions

In a global research study ñ conducted jointly by SHL and the Future Foundation ñ it was found that the hidden cost of selecting the wrong candidate for a position equals an annual sum of US$23 billion in the UK and US$105 billion in the United States. Translating these findings to a South African context, the cost of managing poor performance is estimated to be R29 billion or 2.26% of GDP.

The research illustrates that although the initial cost of selecting a candidate is not very high, it is the cost of failure ñ or the cost of selecting an incompetent candidate ñ that is extremely high. Simply focussing on the costs of initially placing a candidate ignores the larger ìhiddenî costs associated with placing the wrong candidate into a role.

The findings were based on research conducted with 700 managers from seven different countries as well as interviews with business leaders. The annual sum was calculated by working out the cost of managing poor performers (this was done by multiplying the number of managers by the average earnings of managers by the proportion of time spent managing poor performers).

According to the SHL report, if a companyís selection procedure is made more rigorous, employees would enter positions at higher levels of competence with the added benefit that time commitment required by managers to coach poor performers could be considerably reduced. The implementation of thorough competency-based recruitment processes could therefore reduce the cost and time it takes for an employee to reach full competence.

Selecting competent candidates

ìIdentifying a competent candidate requires examining their knowledge, skills, self-concepts, traits and motives that are critical for success in the target job,î says Kris Jarzebowski, MD of CareerJunction, an Online Placement service.

ìUnfortunately, as most organisations discover, merely having skill and knowledge does not guarantee success. It is the deeper and less visible competencies that are often critical to success,î adds Jarzebowski.

In response to the need for companies to mine below the surface of the visible aspects of competencies and to better determine the suitability of a candidate for a particular position CareerJunction developed Prof!ler ñ an online competency-based screening tool.

ìProfi!er allows companies to apply competency science as part of the selection process of potential employees based on a three-dimensional competency model - examining functional competencies, behavioural competencies and motivational drivers,î explains Jarzebowski. ìOnce the basic competency requirements have been established, it is then possible to filter applicants against the job requirements and request that suitable applicants answer an online competency-based screening questionnaire. The power of the screening questionnaire is that it can take the place of a first interview, thus translating into even more time saving opportunityí.

Apart from the cost and time savings and the better accuracy of placements, one of the other key benefits of Prof!ler, says Jarzebowski, is that ìthe recruitment process is more consistent, legally compliant and fairî.

Realising there was a need to reduce the time and cost it takes to recruit candidates and to better identify the core attributes required for specific jobs and then filter Career Seekers against these requirements, Johnnic Communications opted to use CareerJunction as a total online placement solution. I-Net Bridge, a division of Johnnic Communications and SA’s leading supplier of multi-media financial and business content, solutions and connectivity, is just one of the Johnnic Communication companies benefiting from CareerJunction.

Since using Prof!ler Carol Hambly, HR Manager at I-Net, has noticed a distinct improvement in their recruitment process. ìProf!ler makes it incredibly easy to manage responses for job ads, especially jobs where we receive an overwhelming amount of responses,î says Hambly.

The Prof!ler filter automatically sorts out those candidates that meet the minimum requirements from those that do not. ìWe are able to sift through the responses quickly and easily and regret those candidates that are not successful with the multiple regret facility,î she adds. In this way she says that Prof!ler saves her the time it would normally take to manually go through each and every response received.

In addition, Hambly feels that the entire recruitment process is also much quicker and more efficient with Prof!ler. ìThe whole recruitment process from receiving a job spec to selecting a candidate would previously take at least a month. However with CareerJunction I can do this within a week,î explains Hambly.

ìBy automatically collecting, collating and aggregating data associated with large-scale competency definition, Prof!ler finds the most suitable candidates in the quickest possible time - saving time and minimising the frustration associated with accurately selecting candidates for positions,î concludes Jarzebowski.