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Client LoginBy Marc Leslie, Creator of Ihon Holistic Hiring™
In my decades of experience in talent acquisition, I've observed that traditional hiring methods increasingly fall short of meeting organisations' needs for finding and retaining top talent. This observation led me to develop Ihon Holistic Hiring™, a methodology that uses a blend of science, technology and human connection which considers the interconnected nature of a successful employee placement.
The Evolution of Hiring
According to a 2023 Gallup study, only 32% of employees report feeling engaged at work, with poor job fit being a primary contributor to disengagement. I've seen first-hand how traditional hiring practices, focussing primarily on skills and experience, fail to capture the multitude of factors that determine long-term success. Traditional hiring practices are now outdated, they are incoherent, so if you want a coherent workplace, you need a coherent hiring method.
Understanding Ihon Holistic Hiring™
I've designed Ihon Holistic Hiring™ as a methodology to talent acquisition that considers six key interconnected dimensions with communication at its core, engaging with people, candidates and stakeholders throughout its journey:
1. Job Analysis
The framework begins with a thorough assessment of the position itself, utilising advanced tools and agreeing a benchmark behavioural profile between all stakeholders, removing unconscious biases. This goes beyond traditional job descriptions to understand the position within the larger organisational ecosystem.
2. Market Engagement
Employers don’t just need candidate identification – they can do that themselves in this digital world. A comprehensive market engagement strategy will allow you to seek diverse talent and create an inclusive workplace, not to mention, this method maximises the opportunity to engage with people who are passive and are very often missed by transactional recruitment methods.
3. Team Dynamics (Sub-Culture)
Research by McKinsey suggests that team dynamics account for up to 30% of company performance differences. Assessing the team pre-hire has many advantages, such as Seamless Onboarding, Leadership Empowerment, Boost Collaboration, Performance Management, Enhanced Team Dynamics, to name a few. Post-hire this assessment also becomes a valuable tool.
4. Cultural Integration (Company Culture)
A study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that replacing an employee can cost up to 200% of their annual salary, with cultural misalignment being a leading cause of turnover. Therefore, a cultural assessment is needed to ensure alignment between the candidate and the organisation’s vision, mission and driving values.
5. Leadership Compatibility
Through a comprehensive leadership style analysis and review, we can ensure alignment between a potential new hire and their future manager, to help ensure they will work well together, minimising potential conflicts and maximizing team effectiveness.
6. Candidate as a Whole
People are more than a CV, we are complex beings with a wide range of skills, personalities, behaviours, intelligence, motivators, resilience, attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, passions, talents, values, levels of consciousness, self-awareness, and potential. Therefore, using pre and post hire assessment tools, allows us to engage more with people and gain a deeper insight into a person as a whole, which will give a better understanding of each candidate's potential for success.
Benefits to Key Stakeholders
For Employers
Forward thinking organisations who are people centric will benefit from Ihon Holistic Hiring™ and can expect reduced turnover rates through better matched placements. They will experience enhanced team performance and cohesion, improved cultural alignment throughout the organisation, higher employee engagement scores, and reduced hiring costs over time as better matches are made initially.
For Candidates
Ihon Holistic Hiring™ protects candidates from making the wrong decision, they benefit from a better job fit, which leads to increased job satisfaction and clearer understanding of role and organisational expectations. They enjoy enhanced career development opportunities and improved work-life integration, with a significantly higher likelihood of long-term success in their positions.
Potential Impact
Research on comprehensive hiring approaches suggests significant potential benefits from holistic assessment methods. Studies by Deloitte show that organisations using multiple assessment tools in their hiring process see an average of 39% lower turnover rates. According to research from the Brandon Hall Group, companies that invest in improved candidate evaluation methods report 70% improvement in quality of hire. Whilst Ihon Holistic Hiring™ is a new concept, these industry findings indicate the substantial impact possible when organisations adopt integrated assessment approaches in their talent acquisition strategy.
Looking Ahead
The future of hiring lies in understanding the interconnected nature of the marketplace, workplace, people, and successful employment relationships. As organisations increasingly recognise the limitations of traditional hiring methods, I believe Ihon Holistic Hiring™ offers a framework that addresses the challenges with market engagement and the complexity of modern workplace dynamics.
By integrating advanced assessment tools with a deep understanding of human potential, Ihon Holistic Hiring™ represents more than just a new hiring methodology – it's a paradigm shift in talent acquisition and management.
About the Author: Marc Leslie is the creator of Ihon Holistic Hiring™, bringing decades of experience in talent acquisition to create a revolutionary framework for successful employee placement. For specific citations and methodology details referenced in this article, please contact the author.