When a Valuable Employee Leaves, How Do You Fill the Void?

Personalities are complex, so why should hiring be any different? Matching the right person with the right job is a science, which is why we adopted a behavioral assessment tool. Rooted in science, The Predictive Index helps us identify personality traits that best match our organization’s need, which led to one of our best hires.

It’s great when a team runs like a well-oiled machine. But, even the best machines need a bit of maintenance. We learned firsthand that we needed to update our hiring process after a series of events, the last of which was when we lost a valuable member of our team. As a result, we adopted The Predictive Index (PI). Not only did we solve our hiring issues, but the platform’s multiple features changed our hiring culture and enhanced the overall health of our business.  

PI revolutionized our hiring process. I am the human resource director for the Florida State Fair Authority. We have about 60 full-time employees. Our other employees are seasonal and hired specifically for events. We are home to a number of events throughout the year that range from the state fair to boat shows and several cultural events. As a result, we’re always busy and require flexibility in our hiring process, and we needed a solution that could accommodate our hiring needs. We concluded that a behavioral assessment tool was our best bet.
 

In addition to PI's many great features, it offers the perfect price point. We have limited financial resources and at times are tasked with hiring thousands of employees in a short period of time. We wanted to invest in a tool that could streamline the hiring process and provide us with tangible and applicable information on each applicant we screen. PI does exactly that. 

Hiring an All-Star Employee

While we rely heavily on PI for our seasonal and event staffing, we also use the platform to help us identify exceptional full-time employees, and the Group Dynamics function ensures every new hire is compatible with our culture and the rest of the team. With only 60 full-time employees, it’s essential we hire the best and brightest minds equipped to handle the changing seasons of our company. 

We discovered just how valuable the Group Dynamics feature can be not too long ago when we had an opening in our IT department. We had an employee leave after working with us for a long time and were faced with the difficult task of replacing this individual.  

In addition to losing a skilled employee, we also lost an individual who had great rapport with her manager. Filling this employee’s shoes was no easy task and resulted in a high turnover rate for this position. So, how did we ever find a suitable replacement? We started by creating a Job Assessment in PI. We gathered all of the key stakeholders and outlined the job description and required traits and skillsets needed to fill this role. We knew we needed to find the perfect piece to complete our complex puzzle. 

We did not know it at the time, but this vacancy would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It would allow us to showcase the power of PI and really ramp up stakeholder buy-in during the adoption phase. 

Driven by scientific data, PI analyzes behavioral traits from an assessment test. These assessments have actionable items and can demonstrate how people may react in situations as well as interact with other individuals. From these analytics, PI has created a common language across departments creating new and engaging communication.
 

Now there is this common communication where we can all openly discuss the attributes we believe a position should possess. As my team and I discuss the metrics, we begin to form the job requirements. In the case of hiring this particular employee, our initial Job Assessments were all over the map. No one had the same scope or requirements, but PI helped us work together to achieve cohesion. By providing a voice in the structure of this position, it gave everyone a stake in this future success of this candidate.
 

We had more than 50 applicants who met some of the initial scope and requirements. Through the PI tool, that number dropped down to under 10. Throughout the process, one candidate continued to impress the team and quickly rose to the top of the list. His technical background was a perfect fit, but there was one glaring issue, he did not fit the traits my team and I had so perfectly worked out. However, our consultant at PI showed us how this candidate’s stabilizing personality could in fact be a perfect fit. This type of support helped our department hire one of our best and brightest employees. It’s been more than a year and the personality match has been perfect. In fact, our hire is one of our rising stars within the company. 

Plus, the power of PI does not stop with recruiting. It does a great job of providing guidance into people’s careers with the Personal Development Chart. These charts do a terrific job of teaching team members the PI common language and creating an open dialogue. Now we can openly communicate to team members how to continue to improve in their career path. Should the need ever arise, this common language can also be used for conflict resolution. 

Tension builds when communication breaks down. Through the development charts, employees can communicate through a common language. Employees can express to each other how to come to a resolution. PI not only saves us time and money; it creates a better working environment. This powerful tool has done a great job of creating a culture of success.

PI has truly changed the recruiting game. Not only have we streamlined our screening process, but we have complete confidence that our new hires are the perfect match for their new position. Plus, PI helps eliminate the risks associated with traditional recruiting by significantly reducing high turnover rates. In addition to the benefits of the initial recruiting process, we continue to receive a return on our investment though the personal development and growth aspects of the software. I recommend PI to any professional looking to overhaul their recruiting process and professional growth and development. Because PI’s platform is rooted in science, it provides real-world data that the entire company can get behind. The PI approach is now embedded in our culture and I can’t imagine doing my job without this platform.