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Top-Grading: The Science of Selection

What's Your Methodology for Selecting Top Talent?

By Steve Freeman, SPHR, Director, Human Resources Consulting

Many large companies have established processes and practices to select top talent from their significant pools of applicants. These same process and practices are easily adaptable and adopted in smaller organizations as well. In these times of high unemployment, it’s even more important to ramp up your applicant screening processes. Yes, you may have more applicants for open positions, but are you simply getting everyone else’s bottom performers? While the selection process is absolutely dependent upon identifying job competencies and behaviors of successful incumbents in advance, the tools and training provided to hiring managers are essential for distinguishing between good matches and great matches. Top grading is the concept of recruiting and retaining 'A' players. In the book Topgrading 1, by Bradford Smart, research demonstrates that the best performing companies use tactics to identify and select only the top 10% of performers in their peer group. These methods can be used by any company of any size. Yes, it is time-intensive to develop a top grading approach and culture. However, the return on investment is incredible for almost any organization. A simplified approach includes:

Top performers are highly desired and there is a shortage of this talent. Therefore, before investing in top grading methods and selection, can you answer this question: "why would an 'A' player want to work for my company?"

Find this book online: www.odysseyonesource.com/topgrading

Contact your account manager for more information at (866) 508-7306



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