[3-minute insight]
Ahh the hiring process. All that time spent sifting through applications, CV’s and arranging interviews to find your ideal new team member then BAM!! Three days/weeks/months later, for whatever reason, it hasn’t worked out. You’re scratching your noggin, wondering what went wrong, before banging it on your desk because you know you have to start over. If this is causing you a headache, then using DISC at part of your hiring process could be the answer to your people puzzle.
The average employer spends about £3,000 and 27.5 days to hire a new worker
Glassdoor
Here are the top three ways in which DISC profiling helps you to minimise the risk of a costly and time-consuming wrong hire.
1) TAILORING YOUR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Whether you have a one, two or three stage interview process, using a candidate’s DISC profile will give you valuable insight into their communication preferences. This is a more subtle and less tangible benefit, but it can have a significant impact on the progress of the discussion. Especially when interviews should always be a two-way conversation.
Making yourself aware of a candidate’s behavioural style means you can actively encourage them to reveal further information.
For example:
Is your candidate a fast-paced, dynamic high I-Style or D-Style, applying for a role which requires deliberation and acute attention to detail? If so, ask them about a time when they had to slow down their pace on a project to ensure that nothing was overlooked. Furthermore, you can ask them what the result of that was.
Contraily, your candidate may be a high C-Style or S-Style, which are generally slower-paced, passive and change resistant. However, your role requires a goal-focused visionary to lead a team through difficult times of change and growth. How might this affect what interview questions you ask about their leadership style?
A candidate’s DISC profile can highlight such potential challenges. Challenges which may never emerge during the course of a standardised interview. All DISC styles are capable of leading, it’s the nature of how they will lead which differs. As a hiring manager, you’ll need to curate suitable questions to determine a candidate’s adaptability to the demands of the role.
Whilst some hiring managers prefer to use a DISC as a basis for their interview questions, others choose to discuss a candidate’s profile with them during an interview. Neither of these approaches is significantly better or worse than the other. Ultimately the decision about how to use DISC for interviewing is a matter of preference but either way, be mindful of eliminating personal biases.
Nerves are normal:
Undeniably, most of us suffer with nerves from time to time and interviews are no exception. Your candidate could be the ideal-fit-on-paper but you’re facing a mouse-like nail-biter who can barely get a sentence out. Alternatively, you could be facing an overly chatty individual who appears to have no verbal filter.
Interview nerves however are temporary and not a true indicator of who your candidate is and how they act daily. This is because peoples’ styles can change when under pressure or feeling stressed. This is a normal human response, therefore, using DISC to identify their usual communication style is valuable. Not just for you but also for your candidates because you can encourage them to shine their light by adapting your own communication style to meet theirs. Whether this is to help someone open up more or keep their responses focused, a nervous candidate will appreciate your encouragement.
2) WHEN YOU’RE SPOILED FOR CHOICE
Imagine you have 2-3 great candidates who could all fit your role and blend nicely into your company culture. Now what do you do? Utilising DISC could be the key to helping you decide which of them you’ll be inviting to sign your contract of employment. Ask yourself: “Whose profile is the closest fit to the demands of the role and the qualities we’re looking for in a person?”
Please be mindful that because DISC only ascertains predicted behaviour, it should only inform part of your final decision because you also need to account for other factors such as their skills and experience. It’s entirely possible that two or more people can have very similar DISC profiles yet they will have different personalities.
3) THE FINAL PUZZLE PIECE
Using DISC for hiring could help you identify a potential talent gap within your team. For example, does one of your candidates have a style that your team is currently missing? Could this style bring you a value you hadn’t considered before?
For example, you have a team of sales-people who are great at making sales but you’re getting complaints. They’re not listening to the needs of the customer because they’re more focused on the end sale than customer service. Naturally, this would be an area of training and development for your existing people but if you’re expanding your team, could you need someone who already has proven sales ability but who uses adaptive listening and empathy?
DISC opens up the realms of possibility that your business may be experiencing a talent gap. Additionally, a person with a different style to the rest of your team could just be the fresh pair of eyes and traits you didn’t know you needed.
Want to see how a DISC profile looks? Just fill out the form below to access your free sample.
Samantha Lynne
I help business owners & hiring managers streamline candidate interviews to make right-first-time hires for the long-term.
