An interview is not sufficient to judge if there is a good fit. The hiring of staff is one of the most crucial business functions, and one of the most difficult. The traditional interview process does little to inform potential employers of the real value that a new member of staff will add to the company and it cannot predict the longer-term probability of that recruit becoming a valuable, engaged employee.
That is the view of renowned human behavioural specialist and founder of the Demartini Institute, Dr John Demartini. He believes that employee engagement is the key to company success and thus the selection of new employees who will be fully engaged is crucial.
"Engaged employees are those who find their work meaningful and therefore bring commitment and creativity to the job," he says. "They are likely to remain at the company longer than those who are unengaged and they will contribute to its profitability and its higher purpose."
Engagement is not always tied to economic factors, Dr Demartini explains. "Salary is important, but there are other factors that make employees feel valued. These include prestige, flexibility, lifestyle and fulfilment."
Of those, fulfilment is the most important. "If an employee feels fulfilled, they will be doing what they enjoy doing, and be paid for doing it. It all comes down to their values, and to having a job that fulfils those values."
This, according to Dr Demartini, is where the recruitment process can be designed to ensure that engaged employees are hired. "If you were to establish the degree of congruency between a candidate's highest life values and the work tasks they will be doing, you will have an indication of the extent to which he or she is likely to become a fully engaged employee," he says.
Determining values
It's a matter of describing the work tasks that the candidate will be expected to complete in the course of their duties and listing those. Then the candidate's three or four most important values must be determined and there should be a process of seeing how their values will be met through fulfilling those work tasks.
A further level to the matching process is added by including, as a third column in the matrix, the company's mission and values as a whole, and seeing how the values of the individual correspond with those. "There are no degrees of congruency accepted," Dr Demartini says. "The candidate should demonstrate unhesitatingly that they see a task as fulfilling their values for them to score a 'yes' on that task. If there is a high degree of congruency, then the chances are that the candidate will become an engaged, valuable employee."
The other recruitment tools still apply. Skills and experience, knowledge of the company and references are all still taken into consideration. If there is a low degree of congruency between tasks and values, however, the chances are that the candidate will become the sort of employee who needs constant supervision and motivation, and who would probably eventually move on either voluntarily or forcibly.
"You would be wise not hire someone like that," Dr Demartini advises, "even if the other aspects of the recruitment interview indicate that they are a suitable candidate." The Demartini Institute has developed a tool called the Demartini Value Determining Process that accurately determines the highest values of an individual and looks for a real life demonstration of those values.
"It's not possible to tailor your values so that they fit what the potential candidate believes the employer wants from them," Dr Demartini emphasises.
The process helps you to find out what is truly most valuable to the candidate. Checking and double-checking their true daily actions is essential. If their highest values and history of actions do not even come close to your desired and requested job description, duties and responsibilities, they are not suitable candidates," says Demartini.
