Do you know any talented people who are average performers? Of course you do! Do you know of any teams with lots of talent that don’t perform? The imagery of forcing a square peg into a round hole is an easily adapted metaphor to hiring processes.

Most selection processes are based on capability or potential to perform. There is an underlying assumption that talented, high-potential hires will end up being exemplary performers.

Unfortunately, this simply is not a valid assumption. One way to think about the hiring process is by associating information about the job or position as the “requirements” and those who would be successful hires as the “solutions.”

Defining job requirements

Frequently, job requirements are built through simple job analysis or an online survey answered by representative samples of job experts, incumbents, or managers. The problem with this approach is that each step in this logic chain is an approximation or estimate. The further we stray from well-defined performance (producing accomplishments that have value to the organization), the less likely to make a great job fit.

Providing clarity

“Job Fit” in EPS is about the selection and assignment of people, but it is also about “truth in advertising.” Often, the job description used in a hiring decision is a far reach from the actual job requirements. This spells trouble from the start, since the initial search for candidates does not match what the organization requires.

There is also the less obvious implication that those seeking the position are not clear about their own fit. In chapter 11 of our book, Exemplary Performance – Driving Business Results by Benchmarking Your Star Performers , we cover some interesting projects in the military as well as with managers and sales teams related to clarity in job descriptions.

Leveraging job accomplishments in selection

Getting job fit right begins by selecting persons who have previously produced the job output, such as accomplishment, to standard.

Consider the example of Swarovski, a global producer of cut crystal and gemstones. The company operates hundreds of retail stores throughout the United States and Canada. In 2009, the company terminated 66 percent of new sales consultants within the first year. By “putting the right person in the right job, right at the start,” this turnover was slashed in 2010 to 30 percent and translated into $22 million in additional sales.

A comparison of old and new talent management strategies tells the tale of how this was accomplished:

For more on how to shift the performance curve, browse the full series.