By the ActionCOACH Team
Do you know that 2 out of 3 new hires prove to be a mistake within the first year? It's a cost of thousands of dollars for each departing employee.
Hiring mistakes negatively
impact productivity and erode your company’s profits. In Jim Collins’ landmark
study and book “Good to Great” he states: “The good-to-great leaders understood
three simple truths.”
- “If
you begin with ‘who’, rather than ‘what’, you can more easily adapt to a
changing world”
- “If
you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and
manage people largely goes away”
- “If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.”
What would your business
look like if your hiring system delivered the right person 75% of the
time? Here are some tips to stack the
odds in your favor.
Create thorough job descriptions
Most business leaders use
job descriptions to insure the candidate understands the positional duties and
responsibilities; but here’s where many fall short. A good job description
should also include a list of the skills and competencies required to perform
the tasks and duties expected and critical objectives. Many job descriptions
simply state duties but you need pry deeper and outline what is a priority so all
team members. This will help keep you
team focused on what you want, facilitate
quick hiring when the need arises, and communicate your expectations to
candidates and current employees.
Market for employees, just like customers
Recruiting, like
marketing, is most effective when it is targeted, planned and executed with
consistency. Start with the basic
question, “What makes your company a
great choice for potential employees?” Having a written Culture Statement
that is alive and well will help you to answer this question. Cross checking
your Culture Statement with your employees’ experience should be a regular
practice. Now is a good time to ask your current team – they’ll tell you.
Next, identify the best
ways to reach potential employees for the position you are hiring. It will likely
vary based on the position. Develop the ‘advertisement’ to attract them and be
creative. The rules of good advertising apply – great heading, good content and
a call to action. Include the aspects of your company that make it a great
place for the type of person you wish to attract, as well as the “spirit” of
the person you desire. Additionally, always be on the lookout for good people who
can bring value to your organization. Make recruiting something that is ongoing,
not crisis driven! Remember “Good to
Great”.
Make hiring a De-Selection Process
Your time is valuable! Don’t
waste it interviewing potential employees who don’t possess the character
qualities you need or don’t fit into your culture. You can improve your results
and save time by incorporating a de-selection process, using a phone screen and
group pre-interview assessment to test for integrity, work ethic, and passion. If you design the group pre-interview
assessment properly, those that have the “fire in the oven” will stand out and
those who don’t will leave (de-select themselves), saving you time and hiring
mistakes.
Your written Vision,
Mission, and Culture statements are a valuable tool at this point to assist in
the de-selection process. During the group pre-interview meeting use these
tools with the position’s KPIs to communicate the high standards of behavior
and performance expected by all within your company. If you effectively
communicate these criteria, those that you would not want on your team will depart,
leaving you with the “cream of the crop”.
What are you looking for
at this stage? – Passion, confidence, and the desire to grow. These attributes are
much more important than knowledge or experience, which can be taught. Stay
disciplined and only interview candidates who make it through both the phone
and group interview steps.
Once you decide to
schedule someone for an interview, email them the job description so expectations
are clear before they arrive. Have the candidate meet with multiple people,
when possible, and employ behavioral interview techniques and tests to probe
for the skills and competencies that are most critical. Be willing to turn down
candidates who are not the right fit and don’t settle for less than the best!
Believe You Can and You Will
Sounds simple, but too
often we defeat ourselves before we start. Telling yourself ‘I just can’t get
good help’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, start telling yourself
“I have a great team committed to achieving our goals”. Even if it’s not yet
true – YOU can make it so. Remember the objective when hiring is to be able to
say 3 years later that, “Knowing what I know now, I’d hire this person again in
a heartbeat!”
