HOW TO ACQUIRE AND DEVELOP THE BEST TALENT
BY FOCUSING ON THE RIGHT THINGS
Finding the right staff is important but, unless you know exactly what you are
looking for, you cannot accurately assess and evaluate a candidate during the
selection process.
Of course, it is important to know what technical skills and
How to determine cultural fit
experience are required, and to assess these accurately, but
it is crucial to assess the subtler elements, such as emotional Do you know what your HOA’s culture is? Why would someone
intelligence and cultural fit. want to work for your particular HOA? Whether you are aware
of it or not, an HOA has a culture, and the type of culture differs
Assessing hard skills
from HOA to HOA. It is determined by the leaders, board
members, community manager and senior managers of an
HOA, who all have the power to set the tone for culture. In most
What are the core requirements for the role you are looking for cases, a culture cannot be dictated, but it can be communicated,
in terms of hard skills? Hard skills are measurable proficiencies and you will be able to spot those who can’t adapt to it.
that come from experience or training. For example, the HOA
bookkeeper you are looking for may be required to use a certain Also, the HOA leaders, board members and community
software program. This can be assessed through answers to managers need to know what type of leaders they are, and
preprepared competency-based interview questions, whereby how this influences the culture. This is critical in assessing the
the candidate is encouraged to give examples of times that culture and assisting with the selection of new talent. What type
they demonstrated certain skills using the particular software of leaders do employees think lead the HOA and how does this
program. You could also develop a short practical assessment. influence the culture? This is certainly applicable to an HOA or
body corporate, as the leaders (board members) will change as
Assessing soft skills
and when a new board is elected.
Lee Lacocca, CEO of Chrysler Corporation, once said, ‘I hire
It is important that you also think about which soft skills are people brighter than me and I get out of their way.’ While
needed for the role. Soft skills are inherent personality traits this leadership style may not be for everyone, it could be an
that are trickier to teach, and harder to measure. So how can advantage to be able to get out of your employees’ way and
you determine which soft skills to look for? Think about which have the confidence that they will be able to get the job done,
soft skills would be of benefit to the role. For example, you may plus some.
be recruiting a receptionist for the HOA office, and you would
need someone with an ability to relate to various types of home
owners, so you would want someone with strong interpersonal
skills. Also think about which attributes the previous job holder
had that were beneficial to the role, and which weren’t.
Once the candidate is in front of you, you can assess the
candidate’s soft skills in the interview by giving them an
opportunity to demonstrate this skill. For example, you could
ask, ‘Can you think of a time when you had to deal with an irate
customer? How did you do this?’ You can also read between
the lines to see how they demonstrate this skill in the way they
talk to you. Do you feel that they come across as confident and
calm?
Soft skills are not to be underestimated when interviewing for
new talent; they can be the difference between a candidate
that’s good on paper, and one that’s great in practice.
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