Editors often tell me they'd rather hire a reporter who needs to work on his writing than a writer who has to improve his reporting. When I probe for what they mean, they say it's harder to teach perseverance and tenacity than grammar and sentence structure.
They are referring to what I started calling "core competencies" after reading "
For Your Improvement," a book about career coaching and long-term hiring strategies.
Look deeper than skillsCore competencies are the closest thing to "insurance for hiring" that I have found. These core strengths encompass more than job history, and they are much harder to train than job skills. They are a way of describing someone's makeup -- what motivates him, what his values are and how his experience has developed his skills. Core strengths are "the right stuff": what you look for to make sure your hire will be successful in the job.
Each job requires particular core strengths, and some core strengths -- such as integrity and trustworthiness -- are required for all jobs. In the fast-changing, multimedia world of journalism, other core strengths are technical savvy and the ability to learn on the fly. And whether you are hiring a journalist or a sales executive, oral and written communication skills and listening skills are critical.
Do your reportingAfter you've outlined what you are looking for, your next task is to develop questions to discover whether candidates have these abilities, values and qualities. You are unlikely to learn this by asking "yes or no" questions. In interviews, ask candidates to give you specific examples of how they exhibited these competencies.
Note how much the candidates reflect the competencies and score them (for instance, from 1 to 3). If the candidate sounds like he barely possesses a particular strength, give the competency a score of 1. If a candidate's answers indicate that this is a towering strength, give him a 3. Do this for each core strength.
Then compare the candidates' scores to the minimum you believe is necessary to do the job (somewhat important=1, important=2, critical=3). For example, if integrity and trustworthiness is critical, it should merit a 3. If technical savvy is important, it should merit a 2, and if a college degree is just preferred it might merit a 1. If you were hiring for just these three competencies, a candidate would have to score 6 (3+2+1=6) to be qualified.
When you are looking for top performers, dig deep for the underlying, hard-to-develop characteristics. You are more likely to find the right candidate, and that person will have qualities that just may translate to success in other jobs, too.
Next week: Before you begin your job search, know what you're looking for.
