Hiring by Committee: Blog

Hiring by Committee

{By John Smith/Partner at Kellen James}

Has your hiring process been described as “Hiring by Committee”? This is a common (and dangerous) practice among organizations these days. Essentially this entails gathering as many Managers and Staff members as you can find to figure out all the ways possible not to hire a candidate. This method is employed most often to cover oneself. If a good candidate is cut from the process, it’s not the Manager’s fault, it’s the committees fault, “We all agreed”. If a candidate fails to live up to expectations after being hired, it’s not the Manager’s fault, it’s the committees fault, “We all agreed”.

Committees have been described as “a life form with six or more legs and no brain” or “a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled”. Both are apt descriptions.

An organization adopts this methodology because they lack a clear understanding of the true job requirements or “keys to success”.  This is not to say that second opinions are of no use. They are, when they are based on objective criteria. Whenever there are multiple parties involved in giving feedback, there needs to be a clear leader/decision maker. Someone to consider the feedback from others, weigh it against their impressions and make a decision.

There are four fundamental steps you can take to improve the quality of your hiring decisions and which will make the process less stressful for those involved.

1. Perform a Hiring Process audit: Review and create an outline of your current process.

2. Create a Talent Acquisition Map: This is a detailed process you follow each time you fill a vacancy. It’s a repeatable process like an assembly line.

3. Benchmark each role within your organization: Throw out your Job Descriptions. Define the key accountabilities and create a comprehensive report to define the role.

4. Create Performance Profiles for each role: These are based on the key accountabilities/key deliverables. These define what a person needs to deliver in order to be successful, not what they need to have to get hired.

Implementing these four changes in your organization will not only streamline your process, but will result in better hiring decisions. Your Managers will begin hiring based on objective information rather than the biases of the committee.