How to use E.I. to recruit talent

Following on from our blog in December and ‘The Perceived Talent Shortage', I wanted to tell you more about how we are using Emotional Intelligence screening as part of our recruitment and selection processes. 

Anyone who is involved in recruiting talent will tell you about a talent shortage in the marketplace. Unemployment is at a 42-year low (Office for National Statistics, Nov 2017) and the need to attract and find talent is becoming more and more difficult. There are certain sectors really feeling the strain in finding talent, including Engineering, Digital and Health but we are also seeing skills shortages across all sectors as a consequence of these low unemployment levels.

Niche Recruitment have partnered with JCA Global to help incorporate Emotional Intelligence profiling into our recruitment and selections decisions. We are passionate about matching talent to our clients not just based on ‘skills’ but also on an individual’s ‘mindset’ we are confident that we can help improve your assessment processes. “89% of hires failed due to personal attributes, not skills competency. “

A report by M. Murphy in 2011 ‘Hiring for attitude’ highlight the top 5 reasons why new hires failed. Only 11% of new hires failed due to ‘Technical Competency’. Skills Set vs Mind Set – Using Emotional Intelligence Profiling The messages coming out of the marketplace are focused on ‘Skills shortages’… what if we put less emphasis on Skills and more emphasis on Attitude?

Niche Recruitment has helped secure over 200 candidates jobs in temporary or permanent work over our 2 ½ years and since our inception and we have very low attrition rates. Our unique approach is based around relationships, experience and knowledge. We get to know our clients, their values, their style, their history and by listening and understanding their business we can match talent more effectively.

By working with JCA Global we can now provide some science to back up our experience and intuition when helping to identify talent and thus add value to your recruitment and selection processes.

How does it work… Emotional Intelligence profiling looks below the surface to identify an individual’s behaviour – what they say and do, their feelings – How they think and fell and their attitude – their underlying patterns and beliefs. The questionnaire we use (that takes 15 minutes to complete) measures how an individual is personally and impersonally effective.

We are working with our clients to identify an individual’s competencies in 10 key areas: Personal Effectiveness • Showing resilience • Acting with initiative • Driving for success • Responding to change • Growth Focus Interpersonal Effectiveness • Valuing people • Connecting with people • Influencing people • Inspiring others • Coaching and developing.

We can work with you to identify your key competencies you are looking for in an applicant and provide you a fantastic report that you can use to help identify either a low, average or high potential in these areas. Not only can we give you the scores in these areas, but these reports can also help provide guidance and interview questions that you may want to use to delve into more detail at interview stage.

We are offering our HR / Recruitment partners the chance to do the EI questionnaire for free, not only will you get a really fascinating report on your own Emotional Intelligence, but it could also be considered for use as part of your selection and assessment process. There is some amazing talent available in the market and I understand in some sectors that you need a base level of technical competence but if we can help provide options based on a high EI competencies then this is a great start and skills can be trained over time? If you would like to see a sample report and have questions around this, please do get in touch.

In addition, if you wanted more information about our business and would be interested in partnering with Niche Recruitment we would be happy to provide some more details around our service offering, along with feedback and testimonials from clients we work with.

Nick Wimshurst Director Niche Recruitment www.nicherecruitment.co.uk 01793 575058 nick@niche-rec.co.uk