Hire enough people during your career and eventually you will pull the trigger on a few bad ones. It’s an unfortunate reality in the business world, and you are not alone if you have experienced this. “Bad hires” do not necessarily mean that you hired “bad people” (well, …sometimes it does). It more than likely means that who you hired was not the right “fit” for the role. The cost of a bad hire which I wrote about in another article takes many forms, none of them good.
In this article, we will discuss ways to increase your odds of hiring the right person.
There are many reasons we can hire the wrong person. In my experience, there are a few common mistakes I see that hiring managers can learn to avoid. Below are three keys to improving this part of your business.
1. Gain Clarity Around…
- The role’s mission and unique contribution to the CEOs vision for the organization
- The role’s objectives and key indicators (KPIs, Scorecard, measureables, etc.)
- How the new hire would impact the existing team dynamic (help/hurt/disrupt)
- The company’s true Core Values and how to interview candidates against them
- The onboarding process so the new hire, manager, team, and organization all know if the new hire is on track or not (KPIs, 30-60-90 day progress meetings)
2. Leverage Effective Tools…
If your organization is not currently using psychometrics, assessments, or other instruments in your hiring process to gain deeper insights into your human capital (both your existing team and applicants), you are behind the 8-Ball. Behavioral Analytics is a highly specialized field that has evolved over decades to the point of being indispensable to top-performing teams.
In the hands of trained analysts and Advisors, leveraging valid data as an effective screening tool is oftentimes the difference between success and failure with new hires. This type of data is not the only leg of the stool when it comes to assessing “fit to role”, but it’s certainly a big one.
3. Improve Your Interview Process…
In smaller organizations, it’s common for the interview process to take less time than it does within larger ones. Applicants tend to meet with less people, and there may not be entire hiring committees for the applicant to navigate. The pain associated with open roles is felt more by the manager and the team, so the urgency to fill the role tends to naturally speed up the process.
That certainly does not mean that the interview process has to be less effective for smaller companies.
A well-designed interview process should include the below elements:
- Multiple interviewers including the hiring manager, peers to the role, and direct reports to the role. I would also encourage the CEO to be the final interview if he/she is not the hiring manager to ensure alignment to the overall vision of the organization.
- A common scorecard that is shared by everyone involved in the interviews. These scorecards should have a rating scale (1-10) for each key section of the interview. Once completed, results should be averaged and compiled into a single report with interviewer comments added to make it easier to discuss as a group when making final selections.
- Candidate interviews should be well thought in advance, well structured, organized, and schedules should be communicated to all parties. Each candidate’s folder should have a resume and blank scorecard ready to go by everyone conducting an interview. Remember that the candidate is also making observations about you and your team in this process. Are you prepared, professional, and buttoned up? How you and your team handle this process is what candidates expect the “typical day in the office” will be like.
In summary, People are your #1 resource within your organization. Upping your game to ensure that you are attracting, hiring, and retaining the best people possible is the way to win. Leveraging best-in-class tools, data, and processes during the interview process is a huge competitive advantage.
Contact us for more information on how Terraform Group can help you improve your hiring process.
