Have you ever tried Job Benchmarking? Tell me about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page. I would love to hear from you.
Video Transcript
00:11 – Opening
Hi, I’m Shelley Tobin and welcome to another episode of In Pursuit of Hire Knowledge. A show dedicated to helping you recruit, hire, engage and retain the right people for your business. In this episode, we will be looking at job benchmarking and how it can help with various people management aspects of your business. So, let’s get started.
00:34 – Slide 1 – Intro
Job Benchmarking is a process that allows business owners to create a “template for success” for a particular job in their company. This process is unique in that it focuses on the job and not the people in that job. A process that goes beyond the skills and experience required and looks into the behaviors, motivators, and competencies required to be successful.
00:57 – Slide 2 – The Key to a Successful Hire
The key to a successful hire is finding someone that is not only a good fit for the job requirements but equally important, finding someone who is a good fit for the working environment and the company culture. A lack of fit in these two areas results in far more unsuccessful hires than not being a good fit for the job. The problem that business owners face is that a candidate’s fit for the working environment and the company culture is VERY difficult to measure using traditional hiring methods such as resumes, interviews, and reference checks. Thankfully, Job Benchmarking gives you the data you need to get this part of the hiring process correct.
01:37 – Slide 3 – Job Benchmark Process
The Job Benchmarking process is completed in four steps. These steps are:
Step 1 – Setup – Select the Subject Matter Experts and identify the Job
Step 2 – Key Accountabilities – Subject Matter Experts define and rank Key Accountabilities
Step 3 – Assessment – Subject Matter Experts complete Job Assessment to create the Job Benchmark
Step 4 – Results – Job Candidates complete a Job Assessment which is compared against the Job Benchmark.
Let’s take a look at each of these.
02:13 – Slide 4 – Setup
Step 1 is completed in two parts. First, we identify Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that will help us create our Job Benchmark. SMEs are typically individuals who have done the job, who supervise the job, and who rely on the output from the job to complete their work. Once this group is selected, we work to understand why the job exists, how success in the job is measured, the history of the job and how it fits into the company’s strategy. This information is vital to the SMEs to ensure that everyone involved has the same understanding of the position before proceeding.
02:53 – Slide 5 – Key Accountabilities
In Step 2, we use our SMEs to identify the key accountabilities for the job including ranking them for importance and time required for completion. This ranking is key in determining what parts of our Job Benchmark are “must have” and which are “nice to have”. This step will require lots of discussion between your SMEs and will often reveal substantial differences in how this group views the job. This discussion is a vital part of creating a successful job benchmark. In the end, the group must agree on key accountabilities and their ranking.
03:28 – Slide 6 – Assessment
In Step 3, we have our SMEs, as a group, complete the job assessment that will be used by job candidates. As the SMEs complete the assessment, they will keep in mind the key accountabilities and their ranking of importance agreed to in Step 2. After a final review and any tweaking, the group agrees is necessary, you have your completed Job Benchmark; your “template for success”.
03:57 – Slide 7 – Results
In Step 4, we have our job candidates complete the same job assessment used by the SMEs to create the Job Benchmark. Using a gap report, we are able to tell how this job candidate compares against the “template for success”. This helps tremendously in determining if this job candidate would be successful in all three of the area discussed at the beginning including job requirements, the working environment, and the company culture. As a bonus, this gap report can be used to quickly determine areas for improvement if this job candidate is chosen.
04:34 – Slide 8 – Beyond Hiring
Job Benchmarking is a very powerful tool to help get your company’s hiring right. A tool that allows you to take your “gut feelings” out of the process and instead rely more on data-driven decisions that everyone can agree on but its usefulness goes far beyond hiring. Job Benchmarking can be used to help create individual improvement plans, department improvement plans, succession plans, strategic business plans and much more.
05:04 – Slide – Conclusion
Effectively recruiting, hiring, engaging and retaining the right employees for your business is paramount to its success. You need to ensure that you have the right positions for your business needs and that you have the right people in those positions. The use of Job Benchmarking will go a long way to ensure that you get this right.
05:26 – Closing
Thanks for joining me for this episode as we looked at job benchmarking and how it can help with various people management aspects of your business. Make sure to check out the show notes for a full transcript as well as links to some additional resources. If you have any questions about today’s episode, you can contact me at [email protected] or leave a comment below. I promise to get back to you as soon as possible.
Finally, I would love for you to subscribe to my channel and join me for our next episode. Thanks again and have a wonderful day.
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