Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes

Picking people for a job is like going to the store to buy apples. Before you go, you ought to know whether the apples are to be eaten fresh, make into applesauce, baked into a pie or made into juice. Then, you can make the appropriate choices. This is also true for hiring winners.

The goal of selection interviews, buying apples, is to make the most appropriate choices...to hire the right people for the job. The goal is to match applicants with openings. More specifically to match applicant's qualifications with the job requirements. The interview is a subjective tool that attempts to forecast a candidate's performance.

No selection tool can predict future performance with absolute certainty. But, if you understand the job requirements, examine the applicant's past performance and use good interviewing techniques, you're more likely to avoid bad hires. These are people who turn out to be a round pegs in square holes; people who you train and then leave; and people who just aren't motivated to give their best.

So how can you avoid such costly hiring mistakes?

According to Roger Staubach, "In business or in football, it takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results." Therefore, the first step to successful hiring is preparation. If you really want to know if that person you're interviewing has the requisite qualifications, you'll have to do more than a 30-second scan of the resume and "shoot from the hip" questions. A thorough, accurate, and focused job description is essential for effective interviewing. You may think it's a bureaucratic nuisance but it can be a valuable tool in deciding who is the best person for the position.

A job description is an outline of the primary responsibilities of the job. It should list the major task in order of importance. You need to have as complete a knowledge of the job as possible, not only the present "must have's" but the future needs of the position as well. Then you need to determine the skills required to perform the job. Job skills include technical skills and performance skills. Both are equally important.

Technical skills are typically learned through education, training, or on-the-job experience. For example, typing, computer programming, machine operation, financial analysis, and graphic design are all technical skills. You might think of technical skills as what a person "can do".

Performance skills are how a person will do the particular job. These are more like work habits and personal characteristics and are transferred from job to job. Flexibility, assertiveness, paying attention to details, ability to cope under pressure are all examples of performance skills. They are as important as technical skills.

Research has shown that many "bad hires" are due not for technical reasons but because of motivation, energy, values, or interpersonal skills. If you do not explore these skills, you may get a highly qualified person who is not able to work in a particular atmosphere or group of people.

Example:

In a recent conversation with a manager, who had just finished formulating a job description for the head of a growing information systems department, I was told: "Initially, I thought I needed someone who had technical mastery. But when I defined the job in terms of its objective, what I realized was that I needed someone who could develop the department and determine what the rest of the company required of it. I needed a communicator and negotiator, not an inspired computer wizard".

Three basic questions:

Remember, in any selection interview you need to know:

Can this person do the job that they are interviewing for? That's the technical fit - the basic skills to do the job.

Does she have the traits and desire to effectively do the job? That's the motivation fit - the basic personal attributes to do the job.

Does she fit into the culture? You know what works and what does not within your company, and this is a very important barometer of success.

Get The Edge: Start Hiring Winners!

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ­ to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ­ resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ­ fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

---

Process and Procedures Investments - How to Get Money Back

In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax cut bill restoring the recently expired business Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. The 18-month renewal of the... Read More

Quality Improvement is Free

The point of a quality improvement program should not only be to improve a product or the delivery of healthcare but it should also be to save... Read More

Effective Meetings - Quick Survey

Here's an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings.1) Who leads your meetings? a) No one, b) Everyone, c) A facilitator2) What happens to the... Read More

Building Shareholder Value Through Your People

Increasing shareholder value is the most important driver for organisations in the modern business world. Shareholder value is built through growing profit and building confidence in the... Read More

How To Get 10% More Work Out Of Your Employees

It is getting harder to run a business for a profit. We are faced with rising costs, lowered demand etc. Our businesses have to be super effective... Read More

Take the Easy Route - Delegate

It was 2.30 am. It was cold and dark and I'd been in bed for just a half hour when the phone rang."Alarm Centre here, are you... Read More

Dissenion Down On The Cubicle Farm

How content and satisfied are American employees? Not very!According to Corinne Maier, a psychotherapist and author of "Bonjour Laziness," corporate cubicle inhabitants are anything but tranquil and... Read More

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Managerial Influence

This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates an employee's feelings regarding their direct manager or supervisor. The manager/supervisor... Read More

Don?t Forget Where You Came from - Why the Past is Important in Implementing Business Change

Much of the literature and advice on implementing business change focuses on knowing where you are going and making sure that you understand and communicate a consistent... Read More

Managing Meetings

Plan/prepare - lack of purpose causes aimless meetings. Know why you're there - what the meeting is for.Unnecessary meetings waste time, and regular meetings, e.g. weekly, become... Read More

Innovation Management ? The Need For Knowledge Managers

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this... Read More

Can You Sleep While The Wind Blows?

Let me repeat a story I heard many years ago that has stuck with me throughout my life. The lessons from this fable are many and have... Read More

Rethinking Workplace Security: How the Rules Have Changed

The workplace has traditionally been a dangerous place. Very early in mankind's history perils emanated from the place and type of work they performed. Long before industrialization,... Read More

Management Coaching to Improve Relationships with Work Associates

As a recent employee to your job, you are becoming familiar with the work environment and your work associates. You have met the boss on two occasions;... Read More

4 Tips on How to Avoid Communication Lines Breakdown

For example, in a small, two-person company, there is often the greatest opportunity for direct conversation and discussion throughout the day. There are only two possibilities for... Read More