HIRING PRACTICES
Why You Suck At Hiring
( And What You Can Do About It !)
You suck at hiring . How do I know that ?
Surveys from Gallup tell us that 70 percent of the American workforce is disengaged , of which 20 percent is actively disengaged . Young people , who make up a disproportionate share of the service economy , are more disengaged than older workers . Millions of dollars are invested in information systems but relatively little is spent on a work culture that breeds engagement . All too often , people join a company because of an appealing job but leave because of poor management .
The idea that “ people are your most important asset ” is inaccurate . The RIGHT people are your most important asset , and the WRONG people are your WORST asset !
“ A-PLAYERS ” Creating a high-performance culture begins with hiring “ A-Players .”
A-PLAYERS ARE THE TOP 10 PERCENT OF PERFORMERS IN YOUR LABOR MARKET FOR THE PAY YOU ARE OFFERING .
When your company has a reputation for being a first-rate place to work , your chances of attracting A-Player applicants increase significantly .
Before bringing new hires into the mix , complete a talent assessment of your current team using the following categories :
“ A-Players ” – top performers who fit well with your Core Values
“ B-Players ” – decent performers with potential who fit with your Core Values
“ C-Players ” – poor performers who do not fit with your Core Values
A-Players hire other A-Players . B-Players hire C-Players . Most managers spend so much time remedying the mistakes made by their C-Players that they don ’ t have the time to develop their B-Players into A-Players . The key is to improve or remove C-Players and replace them with A-Players .
HIRE SLOW AND FIRE FAST When the most common practice among companies is to “ Hire Fast , Fire Slow ,” is it any wonder that most workers are disengaged ? Many companies rush the hiring process and don ’ t spend the time and money needed to attract and assess top talent , which only compounds these issues .
Here are some common flaws in the hiring process :
• Weak applicants
• Fudged resumes
• Faked interview responses
• Lack of verifiability
• Insufficient time for proper vetting and interviewing
• Inadequate information about the candidates
• Superficial interviews that ignore the important questions
• Reference checks that are practically useless
You can make your onboarding process more productive by having your new employees assess these topics at the end of each day during their probationary period :
1 . Expectations from management
2 . Accomplishments 3 . Challenges
4 . Resources that would help with the work
COST OF BAD HIRING The cost of bad hiring is much higher than you might realize . When you add up all the costs associated with a bad hire , it comes to four times the annual salary for a supervisor , all the way up to fifteen times the annual salary for executives , and can have detrimental impacts on morale and work quality .
No matter how motivated you are to hire slow and well , there are still a few more barriers to overcome before you can make the right hiring decision .
OVERCOMING THE HUMAN BIAS We , as humans , are very prone to making errors in judgment due to habits . A large body of evidence has established that these biases manifest automatically and unconsciously across a wide range of human reasoning . Even when you are aware of common biases , you are unable to detect , let alone mitigate , their manifestations using your awareness alone .
Common biases that can hinder a successful hiring process include overconfidence , mood , fatigue , timeliness of information , affinity toward the applicant , and appearance of the applicant .
One of the keys to successful hiring is to actively combat these biases by setting clear criteria directly related to the performance of the available position before the selection process begins . But are these efforts enough to ensure an objective hire ?
HIREOLOGY TO THE RESCUE It turns out that algorithms outperform
8 | SPRING 2017