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Core Competency Model Can Improve Searches

Douglas Bunce

Search processes can be vague and lack transparency— especially in the academy. Favoritism, biases and lack of due process are reasons women are passed over for appointments to the top spots. One improvement to level the playing field may be to use core competency models in the hiring process.

Eastern Michigan University has used core competencies as a part of a structured search process for the past year with great success, according to James Gallaher, EMU chief human resources director, and Douglas Bunce, a human resources consultant to the university. They shared tips on creating and/or integrating the model into the search and hiring process, speaking at the national CUPA-HR conference in Las Vegas in October.

What is a core competency?

Lombardo & Eichinger, who developed the model EMU uses, define a competency as an observable and measurable personal characteristic—such as using knowledge, displaying a behavior or ability, or demonstrating a skill— that contributes to performing well at work. It’s not about meeting minimum requirements—it’s about being successful in a position. Their research has developed 67 core competencies including business acumen, managerial courage, composure and ability to deal with ambiguity.

EMU uses their Leadership Architect model. It stems from leadership information amassed from the early 1970s at the Center for Creative Leadership. To create the model, they looked at key events and learning, and analyzed what contributed to successes and derailments.

Their key findings were that while everyone had similar experiences (hardships, job changes, difficult people), and learned similar lessons, some people learned much more than others— their learning agility was greater. They distilled their findings into a set of integrated tools that is simple to use.

In the Leadership Architect model, the 67 core competencies become “position competencies” during the hiring process; the hiring manager selects which are the most crucial for each position. Those become the interview questions that assess a candidate’s proficiency in each area, so candidates can be ranked on their answers.

The model also identifies which of the competencies are the most difficult to develop, so hiring committees can assess whether a candidate already has them.

Why use a core competency model?

This model describes the functional and behavioral qualities that employees and leaders need to possess in order to help achieve organizational goals, according to Gallaher and Bunce. It’s also consistent, easily replicable and provides hiring authorities and search committees with a simple tool for making informed hiring decisions. It can eliminate gender and racial biases while providing a common framework for:

• Recruiting. Using the model for interviewing improves the process by establishing consistency, reducing selection bias and creating a better match between employees and employers.

• Professional development. It helps to focus training and development resources, helps define career paths and identifies development activities required for job transitions (such as comfort around senior administrators).

• Performance evaluations. A model can establish clear behavior-based criteria as a part of the process and serve as a foundation for feedback.

• Retention strategies. It can be a basis for recognition and reward strategies, and as part of the criteria for compensation decisions.

• Succession planning. It can help to determine competency gaps, assess current competencies of succession candidates and develop high potential candidates.

Any group that wants to integrate a core competency model into its HR programs has the option of either creating their own framework, or purchasing one that’s already established. The benefit of purchasing an already created model is that it eliminates the testing process. Since 80% of the competencies needed are already known through research, this saves time and effort.

Creating your own model, however, drives dialog between leaders and employees, which can shape the framework to fit your culture—which may or may not be a good thing because it could reinforce old patterns.

The hiring process

EMU uses the model for hiring on the staff side only— but their department chairs and deans are considered staff. They start with a meeting to go over their search committee information guide. Before they did this, search committees were “all over the map” in terms of what they thought they were supposed to do. Some chairs had never before chaired a search committee. While other groups have created a 20-page manual that no one could read, EMU has distilled the information down to its essence. The agenda:

• Introductions.

• Code of ethics. “The success of the search committee process requires an agreement between all members to protect the integrity of every candidate and the search process with a focus on fairness, confidentiality, objectivity and ethics.” Committee members must review and sign the document, which clearly lays out expectations for the search.

Before using the code of ethics, political infighting and breaches of confidentiality occurred. While HR can’t discipline tenured faculty, they’ve found faculty to be better behaved after they sign something—psychologically, they’re more apt to follow the rules and have not created the behavioral issues that have come up before.

• Search committee roles and responsibilities. It clearly states the roles of the chair (head, keep informed), members (show up, participate, provide feedback), HR (serve as liaison, no vote) and hiring authority (listen to feedback and make informed selection). This part makes it clear to the search committee that their job is not to actually make the hire.

• Overview of hiring process. It includes reviewing the vacancy, creating a job description and determining the key competencies, posting the position, systematically creating the interview pool, formulating interview questions based on the competencies, systematically interviewing and scoring candidates, conducting reference and employment history checks, and making a recommendation to the hiring authority.

• Overview of diversity/affirmative action goals. They break down past searches to show what they can expect from an applicant pool, what they’re looking for now to fill goals, and explain to them how the HR department advertises to reach underrepresented groups. That way they’ll know the HR manager did her best to create a diverse applicant pool.

• General information. This determines a timeline and salary range, and it creates a Web space for the specific search, with passwords for the committee members.

• Committee action items. The committee moves to action to review the job description and determine interview pool criteria, establish and confirm the timeline and schedule follow-up meetings.

Competency-based interviews

The model uses Behavioral Based Interviewing (BBI), a structured pattern of questions designed to probe the candidate’s past actions in situations that are similar to what the new job might involve.

The format allows the interviewer to find out what the applicant has done—not what she knows, what she would like to have done, or says she will do in the future. BBI focuses on a candidate’s past behavior because it’s the best predictor of future behavior. The process gives interviewers a consistent and systematic approach to use with each candidate, and makes the candidate provide specific examples of her past work. Gallaher and Bunce suggest starting with ice breaker/ background questions: 1 to 2 for a phone interview and 2 to 4 for in-person.

Then ask 4 to 6 BBI questions (selected from the competency profile) during a phone interview; 8 to 12 for a face-to-face interview. While preparing, determine a time frame for the interview and whether to ask any other questions about the candidate’s skills or experience.

The search committee chair must know her responsibilities. She should meet with the candidate briefly when she arrives to: go over the itinerary, describe what her day will consist of (such as who will interview them, who will shuttle them and meal times), briefly explain the BBI process, inform the candidate that committee members will be taking detailed notes, and escort her around campus if necessary.

During the interview process, committee members should: greet the candidate by name and state their names and positions; state the interview purpose and explain the process; begin with an ice breaker/background question before transitioning into BBI questions (and any additional); ask the candidate if she has questions; and conclude by explaining the next steps of the hiring process and thanking them for interviewing.

Explaining the process to the candidate throughout the process puts her at ease, said Gallaher and Bunce. A good candidate is assessing your organization as much as you are evaluating her. “No adversarial interviews,” they said. “Put your best foot forward, and make sure no one hijacks the interview. Make the committee members understand that it’s a two-way street.” During the question period, committee members score each answer on a 1 to 5 scale, clearly listing standards for each score. “That way everyone uses the same definitions and is on the same scale,” they said.

After the last interview, the committee meets to discuss the process and their ratings. They discuss each candidate and her competencies as demonstrated in the interview, reach a consensus and complete a data matrix and recommendation forms. They use this rating system: 1 for strongly recommend, 2 for recommend and 3 for do not recommend. All data and ratings stay on file.

The final steps are to conduct reference checks, and then provide the recommendations, data matrices and reference info to the hiring authority and HR.

The committee’s findings give the hiring authority the go-ahead to hire those rated 1 or 2. A recommendation to hire is saying the candidate is competent. Such a model is based on science, not just a “feeling” or a recommendation from the old boys’ network.

This model can bring the academy closer to a meritocracy and overcome the conscious or unconscious biases that often prevent women from assuming key positions.

Contact Gallaher at jgallahe@emich.edu  

Farrington, Elizabeth L. (2010, January). Core Competency Model Can Improve Searches. Women in Higher Education, 19(1), 7-8.