The Great Anticipation: Filling Roles Today to Ensure Success Tomorrow

Gain Clarity Before Hiring. Ensure every hiring manager across the enterprise is clear about the organization’s vision, direction, and plans before they begin the hiring process. That may sound obvious, but long-term directions don’t always trickle down through the organization consistently. Beyond a solid understanding of the current needs and demands, hiring managers need clarity on how the business is evolving and how those changes will (or could) impact the role they’re filling. For example, hiring a senior leader to guide the turnaround of an operating group or the business overall is very different from hiring a senior executive to lead a stable, steady-state environment. Not only are the skillsets different; the type of individual that will be attracted to the role and their anticipated tenure will vary greatly as well.  

Revisit Outdated Job Descriptions. Many companies fall into the trap of dusting off the same job description each time a position becomes vacant. Not only does that risk hiring someone who doesn’t fit the needs of the organization and the specific role today; it almost certainly guarantees you won’t hire with the future in mind. Even at times of peak hiring volume, it’s prudent to pause and think critically about whether the person you needed yesterday is the same person you need today and tomorrow. That exercise might lead you to a larger question: Do you have the right organizational structure in place to support your direction and set you up for long-term success?  

Redefine Potential. Most organizations seek candidates who demonstrate the potential to take on increasing levels of responsibility. That’s why the 9-box assessment tool (a measure of potential vs performance) is so popular, and why most hiring managers ask recruiters, “How much headroom does this candidate have?” But if you gauge potential only through the lens of your current environment, you’re limiting your perspective and reducing the odds of hiring talent that can succeed in a future which might look quite different. It’s essential to define potential in terms of the candidate’s ability to grow into not only a new role, but a new environment. 

Look for a Learning Mindset. As your business evolves, you’ll need leaders and other professionals with the capacity and willingness to learn and stretch. During the assessment process, gauge whether they have good awareness of the learning opportunities around them. Ask pointed interview questions that help you understand how well they’ve learned from experience and incorporated those learnings into their work intentionally. By recruiting candidates that are conscious learners, you’ll attract professionals who can grow with the organization, wherever the journey leads. 

Prioritize Agility and Adaptability. Too often, hiring criteria focus on hard skills and overlook or deprioritize soft skills that are just as critical to success. During times of change and uncertainty, two of the most vital soft skills are agility and adaptability. Be sure to assess how the candidate has dealt with change in the past, whether they have the capacity to think on the fly and shift gears as conditions change, and if they’re inclined to get too wedded to existing plans.  

Assess Their Need for Predictability. Some of us have a high need for predictability, so we gravitate toward a steady-state environment. If you’re hiring for a company that is on the precipice of major change, it’s critical to gauge whether your candidates can thrive in such an environment. It’s equally critical that your job descriptions and interview discussions clearly communicate the dynamic nature of the business. While you can’t make promises about how a given role might change based on an unknown future, you should be honest about where the company is headed and that fact that change is in the wings.