Think First, Recruit Later: An Introduction to Bamboo’s Competency Model

You know that commercial for the popular job search site? The one with the tagline ‘ask me anything’? Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to avoid. Not to knock the commercial; it’s actually kind of funny (as far as commercials go), but as with most jokes, it works because it’s true.

We practice sustainable recruitment by building long-lasting relationships, adding value at every touch point, and keeping things simple. We are relationship experts, NYC tech market experts, talent experts. We take our values seriously, and that is why we believe that a leadership competency model is paramount to our clients’ success. When it comes to filling a position, many people rely on churning through interview after interview until they learn what they really need or just get lucky; a competency model helps to cut this process out.

Used to narrow down our searches faster, calibrate more easily, add value to our clients as we propose candidates, and keep things simple by helping them build the best process, our competency model is something that we are excited to be rolling out in 2018.

What is a competency model?

A competency model is a framework that outlines effective and ideal job performance. Every job description (should) describe the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics that are necessary to perform the job at the most basic level. A competency model looks at what we need to see for optimal performance.

At first glance, the model is a set of characteristics. When you dig deeper, you understand that each of those characteristics is based on research, organizational context and culture, and a history of success.

Without critically thinking about what defines success for this role, you are subject to many different biases in your decision making. It’s a bit like playing around with a data set to find something interesting without setting a hypothesis first — it’s just bad science.

So what is Bamboo’s competency model and why do I care?

We place leaders in NYC tech companies. Through our work and careful analysis of who gets the top jobs and why, we have identified the following competencies as our base framework to assess leaders:

We don’t believe that this framework, in its entirety, is ideal for every role and every organization. Some are more demanding, and most are less. It is important to think critically and be honest about what success looks like in this role, and what you want to see done to get to that point. From there, we can look at the competencies that are most applicable, and kick off our search together. On our end, that involves finding candidates with excellent resumes and interviewing them against the competency model.

What do I do with these competencies, really?

Competencies aren’t just words on a page. They are measurable traits with an objective scale. Each trait manifests in observable actions. We have developed behaviorally anchored rating scales for each of our competencies and can use them to vet for candidates and act as partners in the interview process.

Creating, using and sticking to a competency model will help you:

• Calibrate quickly with the market and with your search partners on the ideal candidate profile.
• Minimize biases in the selection process.
• Ensure that you are assessing what really matters for the role and your organization.
• Improve all aspects of the hiring process, from interview questions to work samples.
• Make performance review easy and relevant.

What’s next?

We’re excited to share more about what went on behind the scenes through our blog in the next few weeks. In the meantime, feel free to reach out if you have any questions!