Hiring is the number one issue faced by American small business today; an issue that is compounded by the fact that once recruiting is stepped up, hiring decisions are too often made by “gut feelings.” While resumes and reference checks may also be done, the “likeability” factor remains the key influencing decision to hire. This flawed hiring process drains valuable dollars from any businesses bottom line. Take the following case of a business owner’s decision to hire the wrong sales manager:
Despite the fact that the front-runner candidate for a sales manager position had a resume which indicated considerable job-hopping, the business owner hired him anyway because, “he liked the guy and was pretty convinced he could sell.” Did it work out? Not for long. Less than one month after being hired the new sales manager stormed into the owners office, demanding that the owner “get out of the way,” and let him do things his own way. The outburst was shortly followed by calls from disgruntled customers. It took little time for the new hire to display his true mode of action. When calculating the cost of this one wrong hire, let alone the cost of management’s time to deal with the problem and the additional time to provide damage control to customers, considerable economical drain went straight to the bottom line.
Unfortunately, both resumes and reference checks tell only part of a job candidate’s story. References, because of today’s employment laws, put former employers in jeopardy—even potential liable—should they comment or reveal negative performance information. Thus, reference checks rarely get the “whole story.” The interview itself is often flawed because many business owners and managers have never been sufficiently trained on how to do an adequate interview. Thus, candidates who have the ability to demonstrate “likeability” often connect best with the interviewer.
When flawed hiring decisions are made they often result in recruiting high-maintenance employees. Lin O’Neill, author of Managing High- Maintenance Employees warns that this behavior is incredibly costly to any organization. Small or large. These hires become a “direct hit to the bottom line of any business,” says O’Neill. Even once the problem has been dealt with and the employee returns to work, performance will be below maximum for approximately one-half day according to O’Neill. Add to this the time a manager diverts from management duties to deal with the employee problems and you’ve drained valuable productivity dollars from your bottom line.
While nothing provides a 100 percent guarantee that any new hire will be the right hire, there are certainly tools to help minimize the risk. That’s why adding an assessment validated by EEOC standards to the hiring process has become so valuable in today’s more difficult hiring market. These tools provide unbiased, useful information that will not only reveal behavioral and motivation information about the candidate, but can also confirm whether the candidate actually has the necessary competencies required to fit the specific job. And, lest you think there’s too much cost involved in using assessments, think again. Many of these tools are quite reasonably priced, plus, think of the cost for making the wrong choice.
Also consider that while there are less highly educated individuals available in today’s labor pool of the youngest generation of workers, there are many highly experienced and talented individuals from the boomer generation who have been forced out of their corporate positions with early retirements or downsizing. Many of these experienced workers want to continue to work and actually prefer a position outside of the large, corporate environment. But, to ensure that the right candidates are hired regardless of which generation they come from, be willing to assess the real needs of the job first. Benchmark the behaviors, motivators and competencies required, then add a tool to the hiring process to validate that you are hiring the candidate who best fits that benchmark. The time and money invested up-front will help you avoid the silent costs of wrong- fit hiring.
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