How to Integrate a 12 Step Topgrading Interview Process Into Your Hiring Strategy

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As a recruiter or hiring manager, your mission is to place the best-fitting candidates. You might rely on the same recruiting process every time, or you may change up your methods. When you need to fill a senior-level role, you might consider using the topgrading interview process.
Unlike the typical interview process, topgrading has 12 steps. Here is the 12-step topgrading interview guide.
Key Takeaways:

• The topgrading interview process is a detailed strategy that puts candidates through various rounds of interviews.

• Topgrading lets hiring managers or recruiters compare and learn more about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.

• When using this interview type you should create a scorecard to help provide a measurement of what you want out of a new hire.

What is Topgrading Interviewing?

Topgrading is a 12-step process for building a quality workforce within a business. Candidates are classified as “A, B, or C Players.” The goal is to recruit A Players.  

• The topgrading interview process is a detailed strategy that puts candidates through various rounds of interviews. Topgrading showcases a candidate’s professional background, work ethic, and personal qualities.

• It’s important to avoid costly mistakes by thoroughly screening candidates before extending a job offer. A bad hire can cost a company an average of $17,000 or between 3 – 4 times their salary.

• Topgrading was invented as a way to improve the hiring process and decrease the chances of undetected inconsistencies in candidate responses. One case study revealed that using the topgrading process resulted in 85% of new hires becoming top performers, versus only 26% of new hires becoming top performers using traditional hiring methods.

• Topgrading lets hiring authorities compare and learn more about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. No hire will be perfect. But, the topgrading interview process lets you understand candidates and helps to make the best hiring decision.

How to Integrate a 12 Step Topgrading Interview Process Into Your Hiring Strategy

1. Measure Hiring Success

   To increase the chance that your vacant position will be filled by a good hire, you need to evaluate your current hiring process. For example, use the percentage of strong hires to measure hiring success.

   With a typical interview process, measuring hiring success might not even come up. It could be seen as time consuming or unnecessary. But in reality, tracking the right recruiting metrics could end up saving you time in the long run.

2. Create a Job Scorecard

   Under the topgrading process, a job description is second in line to a job scorecard. With a job scorecard, the company provides a measurement of what they want to get out of the new hire. For example, the new hire into one of your open sales positions is supposed to increase outreach by 10%.

   The job scorecard is beneficial for both the business and the candidate. It ensures that everyone is on the same page.

   Most companies use job descriptions to find candidates as opposed to job scorecards. By integrating a job scorecard into the process, topgrading aims to decrease confusion over the position’s purpose.

3. Recruit From Networks

   Use the pool of candidates you have in your recruiting database or talent community.

   Maybe you’ve worked with an A Player who wasn’t a good fit for previous role, but might be perfect for your current requirement. Take advantage of your network to find top talent.

   Using recruiting software with an applicant tracking system (ATS) will simplify the time it takes to source candidates. With an ATS, you can search people in your database by profession, skills, or education level.

4. Screen With Work History Forms

   Get to know each candidate’s previous work experiences. Work history forms should ask candidates information like their salary history, manager ratings, reasons why they left previous jobs, and self-appraisal.

5. Conduct Telephone Screening Interviews

   Conducting interviews over the phone is an important step in any hiring process. 
   Narrow down the pool of qualified candidates by conducting telephone screening interviews. While interviewing the candidates, ask them topgrading questions about their professional goals, experience, and current or recent jobs.

   Weed out candidates who don’t meet all the qualifications you’re looking for. After talking with your colleagues or hiring managers, invite strong candidates to move onto the next step.

6. Conduct Competency Interviews

   This next interview will compare candidate qualifications to what you require from the job scorecard. Each question you ask should be geared toward a specific requirement of the open job.  

   Out of this interview, candidates should get about 15 minutes to ask questions. For example, a candidate might want to talk about company culture and decision-making.

7. Conduct Topgrading Interview

   In the topgrading interview, the interviewer poses chronological questions about the candidate’s education. Then, the interviewer asks details about each of the candidate’s jobs, goals, and self-appraisal. 

   Though it is a long process, the topgrading interview really allows a hiring manager to get to know a candidate. This is known as the most important step and can range from 1-4 hours long, depending on the open job. It puts together all the information found out about the candidate in the previous steps to make sure they are truthful.

8. Offer Feedback to Hiring Manager

   It’s important for hiring managers to know how they do during the interview. If the hiring manager does not ask the right topgrading interview questions, a bad hire could be made. By giving feedback (as an internal recruiter or representative from the talent acquisition team), hiring managers will improve their hiring practices.

   For example, the hiring manager might ask basic questions that don’t probe the candidate. Provide tips on improving their topgrading questions and balancing the amount of time they talk compared to how often the candidate talks.

9. Create a Report

   The report should be easy to do since you’ve been taking notes and gaining an accurate picture of each candidate. Write up a report on each candidate to give to the hiring manager. A report will help compare candidates to make hiring easier.

10. Have the Candidate Arrange Reference Checks

    With topgrading, the candidate is responsible for setting up reference check calls. The candidate is the direct contact for their previous employers, helping to eliminate phone tag and the time it takes for you or your client to get ahold of other companies for a reference check.

    This step lets hiring authorities see who high performers are, since a senior candidate typically does not leave previous jobs on bad terms.

    After this step, you are ready to extend a job offer to the candidate.

11. Provide Feedback to New Hire

    When a candidate accepts a job offer, let them know how they can improve as well as areas they excel in. Be there for the onboarding process and through their initial months with the company.

12. Measure Hiring Success Each Year

    It’s important to continually measure hiring success. With topgrading, you should see improvements in hiring success percentages. You can compare your success when using topgrading to non-topgrading interview processes.

Interview Process FAQ

1. How do you implement the firing process?

   When you are implementing a hiring process you first need to identify the hiring needs and what you are looking for. Once you know what you need, then its time to write the job description, review applications, and conduct interviews. After the interview process is over, then you can extend an offer to the candidate of your choice.

2. What is a topgrading interview?

   A topgrading interview is when a candidate faces multiple interviews in the multiple interviews that they have.

This helps make sure that the process is rigorously targeting the right people for the position. Candidates are classified as “A, B, or C Players.” The goal of this interview process is to recruit A Players.

Author

Matthew Zane