Why capability should be a top consideration for recruiters

Understanding a candidate’s capability can help make the recruitment process easier but also ensures that you’re hiring talent who’s going to be the right fit for your organisation.

The importance of figuring out candidate capability was discussed in Atlas’ webinar, Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Strategies in a Tight Labour Market.

“Have you ever been in this situation you interview for, say, a sales executive position? The candidate interviews? Great. You’re getting on? Great. They’ve got great references, you hear they killed their number in their last role or their current role, they seem to have what it takes, but six months on results just aren’t there. You have to let them go. What happened? How much did it cost you that process, and how much will it cost you to [do] that process again?” said skillseeker chief executive Paul Izbicki.

“A great interview is not really enough, especially in sales. Because in sales, people can really sell themselves well in an interview, and people can end up employing on likability instead of capability.”

This is where understanding capability comes in handy, as this will help you to make the right hiring decisions.

“Some of the challenges are, that you may or may not be aware of knowing that capability you really need,” Mr Izbicki said.

“References are great. And so are interviews. But at the end of the day, how do you know that they really have the capability to do what you need them to do?”

Mr Izbicki said these situations could be avoided by recognising the areas where a candidate excels and the areas where they don’t – and providing the appropriate development opportunities to build them up.

“In this tight labour market, the chances of you finding someone who is 100 per cent exactly what you’re looking for is unlikely. But what if you knew exactly what they were strong in and what gaps there were that would allow you to take them on and just focus on the onboarding on the gaps,” he said.

“The skill capabilities that have been pinpointed as most important for different roles have changed significantly … due to a lot of technology changes, due to the way that customers buy, due to the internet and the ability for customers to be able to take information from various areas.”

Looking outside of qualifications and experience may be beneficial. Instead, focus on the skills; some may be transferrable from other industries. This will broaden your talent pools and allow you to access talent that you may have overlooked otherwise.

To watch Atlas’ full webinar, click here.