Guest post by Ben Baldwin, co-founder of Clearfit.com.
The answer may be simpler than one would expect: humans don’t like doing things that they are not great at, especially if there are grave consequences when executed poorly.
Hiring can make or break any business. This is especially true with small and medium-sized businesses. In general, most people are not very good at hiring employees. In fact, according to my friend, hiring expert Charles Handler, Ph.D.: on average, 45% of new hires leave in the first 6 months and 15% of new hires are fired within the first year. The harm that hiring mistakes can do to your business is much worse: wasted time, reduced morale, lost clients … I could go on. In fact, employee turnover costs range from 1/2 to 5 times an employee’s annual wages.*
How did hiring, as we know it, become so broken? Many experts believe it’s because hiring has become more of an administrative task than a strategic or managerial priority; a painful task that’s frequently delegated to an administrator, or a recruiter. Business leaders must become more invested in hiring, so they can avoid spending far more of their time and resources managing and firing. Here are some helpful tactics:
1. Focus On What’s Important
Only you know what it is you are looking for, so make sure to prepare before you start hiring. One key thing to note is that it’s just as crucial to understand what isn’t important, as what is. Avoid becoming romanced by qualifications that are not relevant to getting the job done. Make sure you also have a good understanding of what sort of personality you’re seeking, because, as the old saying goes: you can train skills, but you can’t train fit.
2. Hiring Is Sales
Often, the best candidates are not looking for a job, so they must be sold on your opportunity. From HubSpot Paul English, founder and CTO of Kayak, the most popular travel search site on the web: “When someone mentions the name of a person that they’ve worked with that they think is exceptional, a little clock starts ticking in my head. From when the clock starts, I give myself seven days to track them down, back channel, get them in for two series of interviews that are intense and focused, and make an offer and have them accept it.”
3. Become Good At Asking Questions and Reading Responses
Typically, even when employers do a good job of getting the right candidates to the table, they don’t prepare adequately for the interview. The interview is critical for avoiding a bad hire and ensuring you’ve got the right person. You can forget about trying to “fix” unfit employees after you hire them, because this is either impossible or a huge waste of time, no matter how strong a manager you are.
I’ve learned a great way to get some really honest responses is through difficult questions such as: “Who was your last boss? What will they tell me about your strengths and weaknesses when I call them this afternoon?” Another tactic is meeting with your candidate in a social setting (go for a drink with others, if you can) where they are more likely to be themselves.
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*Charles A. Handler, Ph.D. (2009) Using Technology to Support Informed Decision Making Within the Hiring Process.
About the Author:
Ben Baldwin is the co-founder of ClearFit.com, a hiring software firm that offers patented HR tools to make hiring employees easy for small businesses. To reach Ben, you can email him at ben@clearfit.co
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