Risk & Business Magazine General Insurance Services - Fall 2020 | Page 14

HIRING APPROACH
HARVARD BUSINESS
SCHOOL SAYS:
“Your Approach To Hiring Is All Wrong”
If you’re a CEO, HR director or hiring
manager at any level, your biggest
headache is bad hires. This article
documents how bad hiring is in almost
all companies, and I offer proven fixes
to the many problems.
Recent Harvard Business School research
was reproduced by SHRM, and yes, the
title of the article is: “Your Approach to
Hiring is All Wrong.” I add this: Topgraders’
approach to hiring is not at all wrong, so I
quote the article (bold) and then explain the
Topgrading solutions (italics).
BUSINESSES HAVE NEVER DONE AS
MUCH HIRING AS THEY DO TODAY.
THEY’VE NEVER SPENT AS MUCH
MONEY DOING IT. AND THEY’VE NEVER
DONE A WORSE JOB OF IT.
I don’t know if it’s worse, because since
Adam and Eve hiring has been awful. Our
research shows only 25% of people hired in
small and big companies turn out to be the
high performers CEOs want.
THE BIG PROBLEM WITH ALL THESE NEW
PRACTICES IS THAT WE DON’T KNOW
WHETHER THEY ACTUALLY PRODUCE
SATISFACTORY HIRES. ONLY ABOUT
A THIRD OF U.S. COMPANIES REPORT
THAT THEY MONITOR WHETHER THEIR
HIRING PRACTICES LEAD TO GOOD
EMPLOYEES; FEW OF THEM DO SO
CAREFULLY, AND ONLY A MINORITY
EVEN TRACK COST PER HIRE AND TIME
TO HIRE.
Companies do ROI analyses of everything
they buy… except the most important thing:
Talent. Topgraders DO measure quality of
hire, rigorously. At TopgradingCaseStudies.
com dozens of large and small companies
improved the percent HIGH performers
hired from 36% to 85%.
HIRING TALENT REMAINS THE NUMBER
ONE CONCERN OF CEOS IN THE MOST
RECENT CONFERENCE BOARD ANNUAL
SURVEY; IT’S ALSO THE TOP CONCERN
OF THE ENTIRE EXECUTIVE SUITE.
Our research shows the same – the #1
headache in the C suite is bad hires.
EMPLOYERS ARE MISSING THE FOREST
FOR THE TREES. OBSESSED WITH NEW
TECHNOLOGIES AND DRIVING DOWN
COSTS, THEY LARGELY IGNORE THE
ULTIMATE GOAL: MAKING THE BEST
POSSIBLE HIRES.
Our Topgrading Cost of Mis-hire Form
is the most downloaded (just google it)
and should be used by all companies.
Our research shows even at the midmanagement
level, a mis-hire costs five
times salary plus 200 hours “wasted.”
ONCE PEOPLE ARE CANDIDATES, THEY
MAY NOT BE COMPLETELY HONEST
ABOUT THEIR SKILLS OR INTERESTS—
BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE HIRED—
AND EMPLOYERS’ ABILITY TO FIND OUT
THE TRUTH IS LIMITED.
Our research shows at least 40% of resumes
and interview responses contain lies. The
Topgrading Truth Motivator shows which
resumes are accurate and assures honest
responses to your interview questions.
BE WARY OF VENDORS BEARING HIGH-
TECH GIFTS. ON AVERAGE, COMPANIES
GET FIVE TO SEVEN PITCHES EVERY
DAY—ALMOST ALL OF THEM ABOUT
HIRING—FROM VENDORS USING DATA
SCIENCE TO ADDRESS HR ISSUES. THESE
VENDORS HAVE ALL SORTS OF COOL
SOUNDING ASSESSMENTS, SUCH AS
COMPUTER GAMES THAT CAN BE
SCORED TO PREDICT WHO WILL BE A
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