THE TEN BIGGEST MISTAKES IN HIRING
High turnover, sexual harassment, violence in the workplace, employee theft — when you hire the wrong person, a lot can go wrong! Avoid these common errors:
- Failing to Identify Company Needs
Define your needs for the position in terms of skills, character, competency, and experience. Instead of assuming that you need a certain type of employee, test your assumptions. - Failing to Test Employee Skills
Identify the job’s objective standard and test for it. Unless you assess an applicant’s skills, you’re gambling that they can perform — a bet you might well lose. - Hiring out of Desperation
Hire in haste — and end with waste. Don’t fall prey to fear-based hiring. If you can’t hire in a timely manner, bring in a temporary or leased employee, or borrow a worker from another company. - Hiring out of Laziness
Most managers don’t want to “deal with” hiring. Fight this common tendency to do less rather than more. If you don’t like to hire people, get somebody else to do it for you. - Hiring out of Infatuation
Managers usually make the hiring decision in the first 10 minutes of the interview, and then spend the next 50 minutes justifying their choice. Just because someone “looks” right for a job doesn’t mean they will be. To avoid infatuation, use follow-up meetings and joint interviews. - Letting Baggage Get in the Way
The best and brightest aren’t going to always look and act the way you think they should. Seeking diversity is not only important to placate the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — it’s essential in today’s competitive economy. - Hiring Based on Recommendations
Just because someone thinks somebody they know is a great worker doesn’t mean they are. Don’t let someone else make your hiring decision for you. Go through the same hiring process with every potential employee. - Blindly Promoting from Within
Remember the “Peter Principle”? Good employees don’t necessarily make good managers. Promoting solely from within can create inbreeding and stagnation. Fill at least one-third of your new positions from the outside. - Skimping on Background and Reference Checks
Don’t let concern for EEOC and legislative privacy guidelines keep you from investigating backgrounds extensively. Poor hiring decisions aren’t caused by barring EEOC-prohibited questions — but by not asking the right questions. - Failing to Recognize a Poor Hiring Decision
Do your best to keep bad hires on their feet by putting them in at least the same position that you found them. Try to assist them with outplacement and a small severance package, so you don’t end up with a bitter ex-employee or, even worse, a lawsuit.
If you want the right employees, you’ll need to go through the right process. When you hire the best, you’ll enjoy high productivity, loyalty, innovation, team players, and a healthy bottom line