Do You Know how to Distinguish a Candidate’s True Competencies?
When asked, most supply chain companies can tell you what kind of candidates they’re looking for. They want someone with those “fill-in-the-blank” skills – can-do attitude, team player, out-of-the-box-thinker, etc. – but actually being able to identify those skills can be challenging.
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about identifying core competencies in the hiring process. What are core competencies and how can they help your supply chain organization make better hires?
The term core competency describes the management concept of corporations possessing specialized expertise in a specific area. Corporations quickly adopted the concept of core competencies to communicate what they did “best” and to leverage the competitive advantages of their brands.
Since then, core competencies have been applied to other aspects of management and have become a key strategy in the hiring process.
What is Competency-Based Hiring?
A candidate’s core competencies are determined by two groups of factors:
- skills, knowledge, and technical qualifications
- behavioral characteristics, personality attributes, and individual aptitudes
Although traditional hiring, especially in manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and engineering, has focused primarily on evaluating a candidate’s skills and technical qualifications, a competency-based approach includes an analysis of a candidate’s behavioral characteristics. Competency-based hiring comes from the identification of core competencies required for success and the subsequent evaluation of each candidate’s demonstration of those competencies in their past experiences. And one of the best ways to do this is through behavioral interviewing.
What is Behavioral Interviewing?
Behavioral interviewing is based on the concept that the best predictor of future performance is past performance. Interviewers ask for specific examples of past behaviors/actions in order to draw conclusions about how a candidate would perform in a similar situation in their organization.
Why Use Behavioral Interviewing?
Many experts believe that behavioral interviewing offers the best opportunity both for candidates to showcase their accomplishments, and for interviewers to assess the candidates’ potential for future success in the organization. Behavioral questions should be based on the specific competencies of the job being interviewed for, as the answers will demonstrate whether or not the candidate has previously demonstrated those required competencies.
Does this sound intimidating? Complicated? Then hopefully you have a recruiter you can trust. Recruiters are experts at being able to identify candidates who are truly a good fit for your company. Their combination of interviewing skills, ability to ask the right questions of both your company and the candidates and knowledge of your industry can make them a truly valuable asset when you need to hire the right candidate the first time. Contact supply chain recruiting experts ZDA to find the best candidate for your company.