In the workplace of the past, among the keys to selection was seeking to identify good prospects for long-term employment: Will this person join the corporate family, hitch her/his wagon to your star, pay his/her dues and climb the ladder? Applicants would be expected to send in a cover letter with a resume and wait to hear from you. If the resume demonstrated a sufficient background of education and experience, you might have called to schedule the applicant for an initial interview. If the applicant passed muster, you might have called him/her back for an extensive set of interviews with some key decision-makers. Perhaps you would ask for a letter of reference from a previous employer.

In the workplace of the future, you are not looking for people to join the family and climb the ladder. Rather, you need people who bring specific skills to the table, are able to get up to speed quickly, and begin making valuable contributions right away. Cover-letters and resumes don’t tell you much about a person. Interviews are not as reliable as they used to be because so many people are practicing to learn how to give the “right” answers in job interviews–the kind of answers “interviewers want to hear.” And you can’t trust letters of reference because everybody is afraid of getting sued.

THE KEY:
Develop a selection process that is all about skill and performance criteria. Collect as much proof as you can that potential hires have the skills they need to get up to speed quickly and start contributing right away.

THE PROCESS:
(-) Before engaging in the selection process, create a skill and performance based profile for the people you need to do the work that needs to be done.
(-) Ask applicants to submit detailed proposals outlining exactly how the applicant intends to get that work done — or what role he/she could play in getting that work done.
(-) Focus interviews on skill and performance criteria; and whenever possible, first get a “sample” of each applicant’s work product.
(-) Design work try-outs to give applicants a realistic picture of exactly what the experience of doing the work will be like and to give yourself a realistic picture of how that person might play the role.

Stay strong!
Bruce