A widely quoted study by Harvard University indicates that 80 percent of employee turnover is due to hiring mistakes.And, that hiring mistakes are costly ?.. from one and a half times the annual salary for an entry level employee to over ten times the annual salary for a senior level executive. In addition to the obvious costs associated with recruiting, compensation, benefits, training, relocation, etc. there are also hidden costs such as lost productivity, missed opportunities, dissatisfied customers, damage to project continuity, lowered employee morale and loss of competitive edge. And because hiring is a complex process, there are many opportunities for that bad decision to be made over and over and over.
To avoid making and repeating mistakes, you must identify and root out the causes of bad hiring at your company.Then you must create a process that empowers and enables you to hire the right person for the right job, every time.
Top 12 hiring mistakes - practices, attitudes, and incompetence?s that contribute to bad hires or lost opportunities.
1. Not knowing what you are looking for or a lack of consensus or understanding in the organization about the positions objectives and candidate criteria.Hiring managers must take the lead in the organization to define and gain buy-in on all aspects of a position to fill, from the job description and key qualifications to how success will be measured and compensation.Delegating this task is a big risk. 2. Not filling or taking too long to fill a critical position because you can?t find the time. Filling a critical position is either a priority or it isn?t.Just like putting together a strategy to sign-up a key prospect, the hiring process must be given the time and attention it deserves.And, in this competitive market, top talent isn?t available indefinitely.
3. No clear-cut, consistent recruiting strategy or interviewing process.You wouldn?t go after your largest prospect without a plan.So why would you try to hire a critical member of your team without developing a strategy and deciding who does what and when.If you need external recruiting resources, go hire them and make sure they are integrated into the process.Set benchmarks, delegate appropriately and hold people accountable.Establish the interviewing process and coordinate in terms of who the interviewers are (do they have interview competencies?) what questions are asked, how information is disseminated and how consensus is achieved.
4. The hiring manager wants to hire someone just like them.This is a bad idea for obvious reasons but nevertheless, a great temptation.Candidates must be evaluated based on skill and will.Intuition, ?gut feel? and being swayed by candidates that you like should be minimized.
5. Bias and discrimination relative to age, sex, culture, etc. The benefits of a diverse workforce have been proven time and time again.Plus, it?s against the law.
6. Setting the bar too high or conversely, hiring candidates who are only partially competent. Yes, we all want the best available candidate possible, but many hiring managers go too far, setting unrealistic requirements that tend to attract over-qualified candidates who will be under-challenged and unhappy in the position.Settling for partially competent candidates because you can?t find the right candidate is equally as bad.If you are not happy with the candidate pool, something needs to be adjusted or changed ?. Not surrendered.
7. Not giving great candidates who come from ?outside the industry? equal consideration.Certainly industry expertise is important and in some cased absolutely critical for some positions. But just because they know the industry doesn?t mean they will necessarily be a good hire.Giving too much weight to industry expertise can lead to bad hires.On the other-hand, bringing in someone from the outside can provide new insights and ideas and even be a catalyst for change.Don?t automatically disqualify an otherwise great candidate just because they come from outside the industry.You may be over-looking great talent and a motivated employee.
8. Not taking cultural fit into the organization into account.This often over-looked criteria can lead to big trouble and probably one of the biggest contributors to employee dissatisfaction, under-performance and turn-over.An analysis of the type of companies a candidate has performed well at will help you understand how they might fit into your culture.Discussions around decision-making, creativity, teamwork, conflict resolution, risk-taking, ability to deal with structure and process (or lack of) will help you align the candidates values and behavioral traits with your company and the position.
9. Hiring manager is untrained and poor at candidate interviewing techniques and assessment.Get trained; hire a great recruiter.
10. Hiring manager forgets to sell the candidate on their opportunity or doesn?t feel it is necessary.Remember that the best candidates are also interviewing you. They are assessing how you measure up to their expectations in relation to the job, the vision and the caliber of the leadership, the quality of those in the interviewing process, the quality of their peers, compensation, benefits, career path and culture.This is a very competitive market so you must make sure that candidates have all the facts about the company, position and benefits of the opportunity and a great experience in the process.
11. Putting too much weight on the interview itself which can lead to a. Not hiring outstanding people who are just not very good at interviewing or b. hiring candidates who talk a good game, but don?t deliver. Interviewing is an art and sometimes there?s a disconnect between skills and competencies and interviewing expertise.Remember, the best predictor of future performance is past performance. So think twice before making decisions based purely on how well or how poorly a candidate interviews.
12. Not checking references thoroughly.Do your own reference checks. Also try to talk with other who might know the candidate in addition to the references they provided. Look for consistency between the interview and feedback from the reference.
Group W Partners, Inc. 28 W 181 Belleau Dr., Winfield, IL 60190 630.231.3709