Matching Talents to Roles

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to help many firms with their hiring and a key part of my work is to review the job description. In my experience an aspect which is not paid enough attention by the employer is identifying the specific talents required for a role. That is those natural behaviors which the candidate can repeatedly do with ease. Examples of talents include communicating with others, being detailed and organized, making fast decisions and dealing with change, building relationships or innovating.

So often the employer will focus on defining the skills, knowledge and experience required for a role. Whilst important, these are all learned behaviors which can in many cases be taught on the job. However, the talents cannot generally be taught because they are ingrained or "hard-wired" behaviors from very early in life. In some cases, the talents can be learned to some degree but it is difficult, stressful and energy sapping. Unless the candidate also has the right talents then he or she is unlikely to perform well in the role over the medium and long term.

Therefore, I really encourage you to critically analyze the specific functions the role requires and match it to the talents required. Who were those people that have successfully performed the role in the past? What were their talents? Why did they succeed in the role? Normally, there is a common set of talents. These are then the talents that the candidate you are hiring should have. Of course, passion is vital as well. When you have both the right talents and passion then the chances of you hiring a "winner" are greatly enhanced.