⏅ Recruiting #2 - The Scorecard 🎯

November 24, 2021

The Series

The tools and methods to Ace your recruiting process

Now is time to get into the real stuff. Creating a scorecard that will help you filter and select top performers.

Most of my inspiration comes from the book Who from Geoff Smart and Randy Street.I really encourage you to read it because it is really insightful especially when you start from nowhere when it comes to recruiting.

In any case, I'll be doing the best I can to share with you the learnings I got from reading the book.

Today is Step #2 in the process I'll help you to design to ace your recruiting

Forget job description. Design Scorecards.

Recruiting is the essence of why you will save or lose time and money. Recruiting is time consuming and frustrating if you make mistakes.

Scorecard is the starting point of the recruiting process

Candidate will have to choose between a lot of companies and unfortunately if yours doesn't stand out you won't be selected.

Scorecards is your weapon to help you compete with top companies and attract talents.

Top performers are looking for ambitious challenges, great working environments and personal growth.

Scorecards are your first filter

Every company wants to hire the best talents

A great scorecard, might help you sort out candidates and keep the most motivate ones. A candidate reading your scorecard, won't be able to avoid the expectation you have as a company.

You want to discourage most of the candidate and give perspective to the top performers.

People you want to work with will have to be able to face challenging times and projects.

You need people who are going to push themselves and the group forward.

Your scorecard should leave no space for low achievers.

Let's be honest, no recruiter will say: "Well, would be cool if I have a somehow ok to mediocre candidate for that job"

Job environment is tough, we all compete for the best candidates, and candidates are more and more selective regarding salary (that's a must have) but also regarding side benefits.

Menu - How to build a scorecard

The scorecard is like the set of a French dinner (you'll find more on that in the weekly reviews):

  • Apéritif - Company's pitch

  • Entrée - Mission

  • Main Course - Outcomes

  • Trou Normand - Competencies

  • Cheese - Benefits and Package

  • Desert - Recruiting Process

  • Digestif - Share and ensure alignment across company

The "Apéritif" - Company's pitch

Write a small paragraph so the candidate can figure out the values and the culture that drives your company.The main goal is to be able to find a shared set of values between the company and the candidate. This paragraph's is to sell the company to candidates and hook them on the environment they might encounter should the recruiting process be successful for them

The "Entrée" - Mission

Mission is the starters, how to get candidates excited and inspired by the position they intend to apply for.

Mission is the Why of the person you are going to hire.You'll explain why the role exists, why it is important for the company, and which problems the role is going to solve once hired

Write one to five sentences describing why the role exists

Main Course - Outcomes

Outcomes are where the scorecard becomes serious. It is time to explain what is going to be expected from the candidate at this point.

Describe what the person would have to deliver in order to succeed in the role he/she applied for. Ask yourself: "What do you expect from an excellent performer ?"

You can develop three to eight goals, depending on the seniority level required and the scope of the job. An effective framework to follow when describing outcomes would be as it follows:

  • Clear goal,

  • Measurable KPI associated to the goal, and

  • Revision date for the performance.

Outcomes should set the bar high enough so that the candidates who apply are aware they won't be able to half-ass the job.

The "Trou Normand" - Competencies

The competencies part in a scorecard has to goals, the first one is to draw a profile on the person you wish to hire, and enable candidate to identify (or not) with the described profile.

In addition, it will serve you as a framework to evaluate and compare candidates based on the set of competencies you've chosen.

Even more, it will help you design technical or personality tests and help you select effective questions you'll ask the candidates

Competencies can be splitted into two categories

  • role-based competencies, pick as much as you need

  • culture-based competencies, pick 5 to 8. Those competencies should be present on all your scorecards.

Cheese - Benefits and Package

*"What's in it for me ?"*Part of why people are going to join your company if for what they are going to get. We've talked about it earlier, side benefits are important when it comes to choosing a company:

  • What's your insurance policy?

  • What's your remote work policy?

  • What are the benefits you provide for a person who joins your company?

For example: If you recruit a developer and you provide full remote options, it could very well make a difference.For us it did, our developer team has access to full remote.

Desert - Recruiting Process

Last thing you want to share with the candidate, is how the recruiting process is going to go at your company.It is always good to explain to a candidate how long the road is.

Again, it will act as a filter for candidate who are not motivate enough to invest time and effort in your recruiting process.

Since we're building a 5-step process it might scare a couple of people.

Get rid of the less motivated candidates.

The "Digestif" - Share and ensure alignment across company

Job are rarely a one to one experience, you want people to interact with each other and blend into a company culture.

Make sure that the job description is shared across the different departements and people. You want to get feedback from future colleagues who are going to be involved and going to interact with this person.

Get feedback and refine your scorecard.

There is a side benefit to that, you are going to ensure consistency in the values of your company.

Sources

Who - A method for hiring - Geoff Smart and Randy Street