What is Topgrading?

Topgrading is simply aimed at structuring a strategy that leads to successful hiring in the company.

In today’s fast-paced world, a company can either haste and just hire an employee to get the job done or invest their time, efforts and plan a strategy to hire an employee that adds value to their company.

In this article, we will discuss the definition of topgrading, its benefits, and the 12 step topgrading process.

What is Topgrading? 

Topgrading came into existence after Brad Smart, a corporate professional, was disappointed with the traditional interview methods. Even though these methods were being practiced throughout the industry, they gave mediocre results.

Topgrading was formed as a new method of testing candidates and analyzing their competency, personality, potential, and work history. This allowed the recruiter to understand their candidates in a better manner and intricately study their weaknesses and strengths.

Also read : The Future of Recruitment

12 Steps Hiring Process

Topgrading is carried out in a 12 step hiring process. This 12-steps process allows the recruiters to recognize disingenuous answers and filter the best candidates for the lot.

The 12-step hiring process includes the following phases-

Step 1: Topgrading process

Topgrading’s 12-step process demands patience while being implemented. Everything needs to be planned and the recruiter needs to keep all information handy.

Step 2: Assess

Assessment is one of the most important phases. The recruiter needs to assess the talent requirements from the candidates depending upon the job opening and company goals. They need to formulate a clear vision and expectation from the hiring process and candidates in order to achieve their goal of successful and suitable hiring.

Step 3: Job scorecard

A job scorecard helps the employer keep a track of the potential candidates by scoring them based on their skills and the required skills for the job opening. This requires the recruiter to understand the motive, impact of the hire, and compatibility of the candidate with the company. It helps them compare candidates and make the best choice for the company.

Step 4: Job posting

Now that the recruiter is prepared with the vision, mission, and job expectations for the job opening, they need to put the job postings on suitable platforms to attract potential candidates. It is important to reach out to the right platform and utilize social media platforms, job sites, and professional connections, in order to target top-tier talent.

Steps 5: Work history form

Once the job postings start getting attention and responses start rolling in, reviewing becomes the next plan of action. Going through each resume one by one might turn out to be a tiring and time-consuming job. To save this time, recruiters provide a work history form to the candidates. The form focuses on prior work experiences, job transitions, and appraisals. These forms make it easier to distinguish between candidates and filter experienced candidates from the beginners.

Step 6: Telephonic Interview  

Once the recruiter has shortlisted candidates based on the work history forms, they have a comparatively condensed set of subjects to assess in order to find the top talent. The next step of the 12-step topgrading process is to organize telephonic interviews. This interview is a way of authenticating the information filled by the candidate. It also helps the recruiter shortlist candidates for extensive interviews.

Also read : Benefits of Automating the Applicant Onboarding Process

Step 7: Competency-based interview  

After the telephonic interview, the eligible candidates are subjected to an hour-long competency-based interview. The interviewer needs to carefully prepare the questionnaire so that each test out the candidate’s specific skill. The answers can be compared to the job scorecard developed earlier to understand where the candidate stands.

Step 8: Topgrading interview

The topgrading interview is the most extensive phase of the entire hiring process. The interview questions for this process follow a pattern that aims to comprehend the candidate’s professional milestones, timeline, and background. It focuses on extracting every minute detail of their life, from their primary education to job history, family, and personality. This allows the interviewer to gain a deeper understanding of the candidate’s attitude, work ethics, and capabilities.

Step 9: Interviewer feedback

After the topgrading interview process, interviewers get together to provide feedback to the candidates. This allows the candidates to note their shortcomings and work with them for future opportunities. It also helps the interviewer reflect on their interview techniques and revise them for more effective results in upcoming sessions.

Step 10: Summarize  

Summarizing the entire interview might seem to be a tedious job but it also serves as a reference document for comparing and analyzing candidates in the future. The documented data can be broken into a plausible structure and can be used to make hiring decisions.

Step 11: Coach

Once the candidates are filtered, it is essential to groom them in order to help them overcome any skill gap. Managers arrange for skill development and training sessions to enhance the capabilities of the candidate and monitor their contributions towards the company’s success and productivity.

Step 12: Measure the outcomes 

The ultimate aim behind this thorough 12 step topgrading interview process is to achieve hiring success. Therefore it is important to assess and understand the outcome of the process, study the results and work on revising and improving the overall hiring structure.

Conclusion  

Topgrading allows the recruiter to have a personalized hiring experience. It empowers them to omit the possibilities of hiring the wrong candidates and instead of selecting deserving candidates who will benefit the company in the longer run.

Even though it might seem like an expensive process, it saves a lot in terms of time and effort on a larger scale. The process of topgrading can be modified as per the requirements of the business and the budget of the recruiter.