From a comment posted yesterday by Michael Cardus on the flow of the hiring process.

Background
In his research on Time Span, Elliott Jaques observed an important role for the Manager Once Removed (MOR) in the hiring process. The MOR is identified as one stratum above the Hiring Manager and for most companies only gets involved in the last stages of the hiring process, for final candidate approval. Elliott was quite insistent that the MOR be the person at the front end of the hiring process, creating a qualified talent pool for the Hiring Manager to select from.

Question:
This flipping of the funnel is a great idea, although, what concern do you have about the HR team feeling that their turf is being stepped on by the MOR wanting to see the resumes up front? I have found that, often, HR is very territorial and not very understanding of a manager wanting to see the resumes first. The system is built to go through HR initially.

Great idea of eliminating the delay that is caused, I just have to think through the concept.

Response:
The problems created as resumes travel up the food chain is that qualified candidates get screened out. There are a number of reasons. The Hiring Manager may perceive a threat from a candidate with the necessary capability. Others may not identify or understand why a threshold capability is required in the role in the first place. The person best in position, who is not threatened, who most clearly understands what is required in the role is the MOR.

The biggest hiring mistake that most companies make, is underestimating what is really required for success in the position. When a company makes this mistake, they settle, compromise and eventually accept a person who cannot perform at the level required.

The biggest contribution that HR can make in the early stages of the hiring process is to enforce the discipline in the process.

• Creating a role description, including the goals that must be met in the role.
• Assigning Time Span to each of the goals.
• Identifying the criteria that will be used to evaluate candidates on skills, interest and behaviors.
• Creating a bank of written interview questions around each of the identified criteria.
• Insisting that the MOR schedule and execute the necessary time to create the qualified talent pool.

Most companies skip these steps and then wonder why the rest of the hiring process seems disorganized, rushed, ending with a group of mediocre candidates.