(Second in a nine-part series about the concept of Efficiency vs. Effectiveness and some possible measures to help you determine whether the job you are hiring for is one or the other.)
Yesterday I talked about the “Efficiency vs. Effectiveness” framework.
The first question that must be asked of any requisition is whether it requires a focus on efficiency or effectiveness. These two catagorizations are often mutually exclusive: You can either get it fast or get it right, but you can rarely get both at the same time.
(For the purposes of this series I am assuming that you are not sourcing ahead of demand with a well reasoned specification and a well documented process. In other words, I am assuming that your organization runs like most corporate recruiting departments.)
Efficiency is a measure of speed and cost. Efficiency says “Getting someone in here right away is more important than getting the right person later.”
Effectiveness is a measure of quality. When you hire for effectiveness you are saying that the only way to meet the business’s competitive needs is to find a person who is a demonstrably correct fit for a detailed and rational specification. So effectiveness is talking about the opposite of efficiency: “Hiring the right person is more important than hiring someone right away.”
Machine Age hiring was all about efficiency. Information Age hiring was a little of both. Talent Age hiring is all about effectiveness, since the efficiency jobs will be outsourced or automated.
Next: An Overview of Efficiency vs. Effectiveness
