Conscious hiring

Conscious Hiring is a holistic approach to human resources management that focuses on improving workforce optimization, engagement, and employee retention by ensuring that the core values of a prospective employee are matched to those of the employer.
According to Klett (2010), the successful performance of an organization requires a holistic approach to human resources management, especially the alignment of talent acquisition with organizational goals.
Conscious Hiring involves a systematic, research-based approach that impacts various aspects of human resources management. It begins in recruitment and selection and continues through on-boarding, and succession management. The lack of a systematic approach to recruitment and selection has been found to negatively impact an organization's productivity, morale, financial health and its reputation.
The desired result of using the Conscious Hiring approach is for a company to hire or promote an employee who is productive and engaged for the amount of time required to provide the employer a return on their human resources investment.
Philosophy
Conscious Hiring is a philosophy and a system: It is not the parts, but the whole approach that makes it valuable to an organization.
Conscious Hiring is intended to empower people involved in the hiring process to:
* Understand their corporate strategy better: Clarify their organizational goals (corporate strategy)
* Understand their people better: Clarify how individual roles contribute to the corporate strategy
* Understand their needs better: Determine the key core values required to fulfill the corporate strategy
* Understand how and why their hiring process helps or hinders them: Identify the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in their hiring process

Conscious Hiring empowers people involved in the hiring process to make better decisions to:
* Evaluate which existing strategies and tools are productive
* Determine how to strengthen those strategies and tools
* Identify which strategies and tools are not productive
* Develop new strategies and tools to target gaps in the hiring process that are leading to increased mis-hires and turnovers
Process
The Conscious Hiring approach is a holistic and methodical approach to recruitment and selection that encompasses recruitment, selection, onboarding, and succession management.
Recruitment
To match the core values of prospective employees and employers, the Conscious Hiring approach facilitates an in-depth analysis of the attitudes, skills, and knowledge required to succeed in the job and to be efficacious in meeting the organization's strategic goals.
The first step is to create an inventory of the core values and strategic goals of the organization, as well as an inventory of the core values and competencies required of the prospective employee and the existing team.
An inventory of an organization's core values includes identifying the organization's values, character quotient, and non-negotiable character traits or core values.
An inventory of a team includes identifying:
* The key players and what innate competencies, abilities and traits make them successful.
* What is working on the team and what is not.
* The elements that are missing on the team that, if present, would make a positive difference.
An inventory of the ideal candidate includes:
* The key performance indicators that contribute to the corporate strategy.
* The core functions the candidate needs to perform.
* The behaviors, values, habits, attitudes, and abilities required for effectiveness.
* The skills and experience required to minimize ramp-up time.
Selection
According to the Conscious Hiring approach, the hiring team must be well-versed in evaluating and selecting new hires and internal promotions. To this effect, organizations must implement a system for evaluating and selecting new hires and internal promotions, including companywide candidate-screening ground rules. In addition, everyone on a hiring team must be trained to use and follow the hiring protocol.
Bohlander, Snell & Sherman reported that a successful selection process requires managers who understand the objectives, policies and practices used for selection, as well as a hiring team that has the required information on which to base their decisions.
To support the hiring team in selecting the ideal candidate, organizations should provide the following tools:
* Validated assessment tools
* Behavioral-based interview models unique to each position
* Decision-making matrix that uses a weighted chart with a point value for experience, behaviors, competencies, values, attitudes, and beliefs
Onboarding
During the onboarding process, it is imperative to demonstrate to new-hires that they are critical to the organization's success. This form of support can generate eagerness among new-hires to produce results.
The following list includes some features of a comprehensive onboarding program:
* Provide sincere greetings at their first impression
* Create a vision of their career path in the organization
* Establish a system of ongoing engagement
* Enlist a key member of management to generate excitement about the company and the larger picture
* Remind new hires of the significance of their contribution
* Brief them on employee benefits, new-hire packet, and company policies
* Introduce them to key people
* Provide an office tour
* Demonstrate how to navigate throughout the facilities
* Assign them a buddy, aside from their immediate supervisor
* Prepare their workspace with business cards, phone, and computer
* Perform an orientation that includes a training plan, continuous two-way feedback, performance expectations, and a milestone timeline of their achievements and professional development
Benefits of the Conscious Hiring approach
According to Klett, "competitive performance in today's organization requires an adequate consideration of the acquisition, recognition and use of competencies within the organizations." Organizations must enact a holistic approach to talent acquisition and retention, such as the Conscious Hiring approach, in order to maintain and advance their competitive performance through:
* Improved workforce optimization
* Increased employee engagement
* Higher rates of employee retention
* Greater customer service satisfaction
* Reduced turnover costs associated mis-hires

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