Using DISC assessments for hiring doesn’t have to be complicated. Do it well and you can land a team member who will not only do good work, they’ll embrace your mission, empower your team, and expand your business. A poor hire can do just the opposite. They can undermine your mission, suck the life out of your team, and actually harm your business. How can you make hiring less tricky? Using DISC the right way can help. The DISC behavioral assessment can add a ton of structure to your hiring process. It can help you:
- Identify the type of skills needed to do the job
- Craft a job ad that appeals to the right candidates
- Help you choose the best fit for the role
Here are 3 ways you can use DISC in your hiring activities and avoid those poor hires.
1. Use DISC To Benchmark Key Skills/
There are 4 main categories of behavior outlined in the DISC assessment: Decisive, Interactive, Stabilizing, and Cautious. The following chart contains a variety of behavioral qualities associated with each overall trait:
Concentrate on the traits listed at the top of the Decisive column. Demanding, Driving, Forceful… those are all traits you’d like to see in a top sales performer, right? Now review some of the traits in the Stabilizing column. Patient, Predictable, Stable… those might not be great for a top outside salesperson but how would they work for an administrative assistant or an accountant?How about a combination? Look at the top of the Interactive column (Gregarious, Persuasive, Inspiring) and combine those with the middle of the Stabilizing section (Consistent, Steady, Outgoing). Those might fit for a Trainer, don’t you think? When you think about the role and the behavioral characteristics needed to accomplish the tasks involved easily in a way that comes naturally for someone, you’re identifying who may be a good ‘fit’. These are the first steps for creating a benchmark for the role. That list of skills is only step one in benchmark creation. At this point you’re just guessing. Benchmarks need to be tested and proven. DPP has validated hundreds of benchmarks by surveying and interviewing thousands of managers, hiring professionals, and business owners, asking them questions about their top performers and the behavioral qualities that made them successful. Talk to us about a benchmark that will work for your open roles. After you’ve identified a solid benchmark, it can guide all of the subsequent steps of your hiring process.
2. Use DISC To Write Targeted Job Ads
Now that you know the benchmark for the role, use the list of traits to help you craft a job ad that will speak to the audience you are trying to attract. If you’re seeking an aggressive, go-getter type salesperson do you think they’ll want to read paragraph after paragraph in a job ad about how great your team is or how much of a disrupter your company is in the market? Heck no! What they’ll respond to is a couple of bullet points about the tasks that will be required, how much earning potential exists, and how to apply. Any more than that is TLDR. And you’d better have a simple application process with very few hoops to jump through. You’ll miss out on top talent if applying for your position takes more than 2 steps. Save those paragraphs about your team and company for job ads meant to attract admins or accountants. The more details you can include in your ads, the better they like it. Now is the time to share the company history, vision, and future plans. Get detailed about the responsibilities and qualifications.Think about your applicant as you’re writing the job ad, not just yourself and what you think is important to convey. What is your ideal candidate’s tolerance for information? Let the answer to that question guide how much goes into your job ad.With a targeted job ad that’s attractive to your ideal candidate in place, be prepared for an influx of applicants.
Use DISC In Your Interviews
If you’ve used DISC concepts to benchmark your open role and written your job ad with the top DISC behavioral characteristics of your ideal candidate in mind, excellent applicants shouldn’t be far behind. One final way DISC can enhance your hiring process is during your interviews.You can offer applicants an opportunity to take a DISC assessment at whatever stage in your hiring system you choose. Here are a few options:
- Have everyone who applies take the DISC assessment immediately after they upload their resumes. Many hiring managers like to use this as a filter to pinpoint serious job seekers. If someone is unwilling to take a 12 minute assessment written at an 8th grade reading level, maybe they’re not a serious candidate.
- Only have applicants you plan to schedule for a screening interview, take the DISC assessment prior to your appointment.
- Ask those who’ve passed your general screening interview to complete their DISC profile before your second or third round interview.
Whenever you choose to send applicants the link to take their assessment, it’s important to be consistent. Set the timing of the assessment in advance and stick to it. This will maintain fair hiring practices and help you to avoid litigation. With a candidate’s DISC assessment results in hand, you have an inside view into their inherent preferred behavioral traits and potential weaknesses. Here’s how you can use this information.You’re hiring an administrative assistant and you see this in their report under the C (Cautious) section:
You know from your work on the benchmark that someone with a higher C might be more naturally suited to the role. But, don’t just discount this person because their C is in the low/average range. Use the bullet points to help you craft some questions to get them talking about their potential weaknesses. Something like this:
“Here’s a hypothetical situation: You need to add a seldom-requested section to our standard client contract. Would you take time to review some previous contracts in our files to find verbiage we’ve used before or use that time to look for a new template on the web?”
Their answer could give you a clue as to how they prefer to operate. Will they abandon the old in favor of the new? Will they bend your set rules if they believe they can get an answer faster another way? Are they aware of their propensity to stray from set processes? What checks and balances have they put into place to ensure accuracy, no matter which solution they choose? With the information inside DISC plus profiles you can determine if they are aware of their shortcomings and what they’ve done about them in the past. Get them talking about the way they operate and see if that fits with your vision of the ideal candidate.
Find The Right Fit With DISC
Using DISC to hire the right person for a job can be a valuable tool for any business. By understanding the DISC styles of your potential candidates, you can make better hiring decisions and create a more successful team.
