Knowing the right competencies to hire for is so important no matter the context, but I would suggest knowing the right competencies are even more vital when it comes to hiring for, or transitioning to, remote positions. To be clear, when I say remote positions, I mean those positions or jobs that don’t require the worker to be at a centralized location on a regular basis. This is the focus of my current research.
Note: this the final weekend for tech remote workers to complete a survey discussing their views of what competencies are needed for success (if that’s you, please click here to complete the survey).
So, why are competencies important, and how many competencies should organizations choose to focus on when hiring?
First of, what is a competency? Human Resource Systems Group explains…
“…competencies describe the observable abilities, skills, knowledge, motivation, and traits, articulated in terms of the behaviours needed for successful job performance.”
The key here is that we can actually see people demonstrating competencies (vs character traits).
As outlined in this video, skills focus on WHAT is done, competencies focuses on HOW something is done. In other words, I may be a skilled IT person, but if I don’t know how to listen effectively to the customer, I may not be successful in the role as an IT Customer Support Representative. Determining the key competencies helps HR and hiring managers think beyond the job skills necessary, to the effective implementation of those skills…the result being successful performance of a job.
What about how many competencies are realistic to focus on? From an HR professional’s perspective, I would suggest no more than 5 core competencies. Why? Well, you want to ask behavioural questions that do a deep dive to ascertain if the
candidate is adequately proficient in each competency, so any more than that would be insurmountable in a recruitment and selection process. On the flip side…if you are the remote worker wanting to ‘sell’ your ability to deliver on those same competencies the first place to start is in your resume. This blog may help describe what I mean.
As you listened to my interview with @yonder.io, you will heard Jeff Robbins and I discuss 11 competencies that are relevant to remote work…and each is very important. However, the full story has not yet been told. When the results of the survey are added to our learning from one on one interviews, we will narrow that list to the top 5 or 6 competencies that remote workers (RW), deem to be most important. After all, they are the ones doing the work, making RWs our subject matter experts! (If that’s you, you get why I ask you to complete the survey if you have not yet done so.)
Coming soon… the next couple of blogs will unpack the data gathered from this discovery process that took us to various locations in Canada and Europe over the past few months…
Probe and Ponder…learning from life & travels with Roberta Sawatzky 