AVOIDING MIS-HIRES
How I Avoided A Costly Mis-Hire In 1 minute
As founder of Topgrading , Inc . and the author of five books on how to hire ( and avoid mis-hires ), I am also a business owner who of course wants to hire A Players . This morning I avoided a mishire , and it took only a minute of my time .
The Topgrading Snapshot saved me the time and cost of a day of interviews , and more importantly , prevented what would have been a costly mis-hire .
We ’ re hiring sales reps , so I posted an entry sales job on job boards and on our website , and I used a contingency recruiter . The recruiter called me , all enthusiastic about a “ fantastic ” candidate . Let ’ s call him John Doe ( all names changed of course ). Look at part of his resume , his first job out of college :
Leading Insurance Company changed on day after graduation
One of the nation ’ s largest life insurers .
FINANCIAL REPRESENTATIVE Sold life insurance and drove business expansion and profitability by engaging proactive contact strategies , performing front-end business development activities , and providing exceptional customer service .
• Top producer in a highly-competitive corporate headquarters sales team with achievements including :
– Developing a healthy sales funnel and sales pipeline through a highly-disciplined systematic lead generation and lead development regiment that met 120 % of sales plan goal within first 45 days ;
– Meeting 100 % of monthly appointment goals , averaging 10 appointments each week ;
– Instrumental contributor in producing $ 357K in premiums ; one of the highest within five districts ;
– Achieving a cold-calling success ratio of 50 % or more — the highest in the district ;
– Converted three of five referrals into sales - highest in the company that year
This was total BS ! Research shows that over 50 % of resumes have deliberate falsehoods . Good grief ! C Players easily create A Player resumes , and all the books on how to get a job recommend lying on resumes and in interviews . Reference checks are usually worthless ( C Players get their buddies to lie for them ). This is the # 1 problem in hiring , but you know it , right ? You ’ ve mis-hired a lot of people who fudged their resume and lied to you in interviews .
Aha , but I avoided that problem . I sent him an email , saying I was impressed with his resume ( I was – but I needed to be sure it was for real ) and would like to talk with him , but first , would he please complete the Topgrading Career History Form . He responded yes , I sent the link , and he completed it .
Like all Topgraders , rather than delve into the candidate ’ s detailed Career History Form I first glanced at his Topgrading Snapshot .
In only seconds this Topgrading Snapshot showed me he had lied on his resume . The Snapshot showed he had been fired from the Financial Representative job , but he claims in his resume he was a superstar in it .
I went to his Career History Form and saw that he admitted being fired for NOT achieving quotas ! Wow ! In seconds the Snapshot told me to reject him , and in less
DR . BRAD SMART AUTHOR , PRESIDENT & CEO OF TOPGRADING , INC .
than a minute I found confirmation in the Career History Form .
Why would John tell the truth in the Career History Form ? Simple . Decades ago I stumbled on to a “ truth serum : Candidates are told in the Instructions to the Career History Form : “ A final step in hiring is for candidates to arrange reference calls with their former managers and others .” No doubt John concluded , “ I ’ m BUSTED ! so I ’ d better tell the truth on this form .” About 25 % of candidates – low performers ( like John ) and liars ( like John ) drop out . Good ! You didn ’ t want to waste time screening them ! I had already scheduled a day of interviews with Doe , but of course I cancelled that day .
BOTTOM LINE Topgrading Snapshots save 25 % of hiring time because the low performers and BS ’ ers drop out . But the main value of Topgrading , including the Snapshot , is avoiding costly mis-hires . Other hiring methods do not have the “ truth serum ,” and their reference calls are almost worthless , and those are two reasons they suffer from way too many mis-hires .
FREE TIP Topgrading has many methods to hire almost all A Players but you might start by telling all candidates , “ A final step in hiring is for candidates to arrange reference calls with their former managers and others .” This simple but powerful tip has prevented millions of mis-hires . +
Dr . Brad Smart is an internationally renowned management psychologist and is generally regarded as the world ’ s leading expert on hiring best practices . He has written five books on hiring including the New York Times / Wall Street Journal best seller Topgrading : 3rd Edition . Topgrading methods have enabled hundreds of small companies and leading companies such as General Electric , American Heart Association , and Barclays to more than triple their success hiring high performers .
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