Hire right the first time and avoid headaches later
September 2002
One of the easiest business mistakes to make is also one of the most expensive. Have you ever hired someone only to find over time that they were just not the best fit for the job, or worse yet, an out-and-out disaster? Most of us have. A great match between employer and employee not only maximizes productivity and work quality, it also saves you a small fortune in re-hiring and re-training costs.
What frequently happens in today’s rushed workplace? See if this sounds familiar: You know you need another person, but you don’t have quite enough money (or time) to hire right now. You and your staff get more and more overworked and stressed, something disastrous happens (or nearly does), tempers flare. You promise to hire ASAP. You then have to write the ad, figure out where to recruit, and pay overtime or temps to pick up the slack while waiting for responses. Everyone continues to do the work of two or three, tempers flare again. You get the ad written and placed, take care of the details over lunch at your desk, finishing your regular work on evenings and weekends. You hire someone who seems just great. Slowly (or quickly) however, it becomes clear that something is peculiar/unsatisfactory/intolerable in the State of The New Hire.
Faced with adjusting or dealing with the resulting situation, most of us will postpone the inevitable for as long as we can. Let’s face it - by the time you’ve lived through all of the above plus the probationary period, the seeming lull of having another set of hands, even if not the perfect one, probably looks more appealing than going through the fun of firing, recruiting, hiring and training again. Over time, however, you will find that you can no longer deny the negative impact of this employee, whether it be in lowered morale among the workgroup, or inadequate work quality and its myriad effects, or both.
How can we avoid this painful process? Easy - hire well the first time. The biggest mistake we tend to make is hiring the most technically qualified person. While I’m not advocating hiring incompetent help, let’s assume a baseline level of technical competency and go one step further. What we’re really looking for is the best match between applicant and position. How do we quantify that? In hiring parlance, there are three main elements to job performance: Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes (KSA’s).
According to Webster, knowledge is the act, fact, or state of knowing. Or, what does your candidate know? What life experience do they bring to the job? What tangential body of knowledge might be added value to you or your customers? This could be shared interests or completely divergent ones. One plumber noticed that he kept attracting staff with advanced degrees in obscure subjects. His clients loved having conversations with these interesting folks, and remembered him as the plumber with the fascinating staff. While he had not started looking for this in early hires, the recognition it brought him was added value and free advertising. Of course, now he looks for interesting backgrounds, all other things being equal.
Skill: expertness that comes from training or practice
Here’s where the detailed job skills come in. Of course you’ll want to make sure that the candidate has whatever baseline of expertise that you have deemed necessary, or better. Devise some way to measure these competencies. This will depend on the job, but could include a portfolio of previous work, a hands-on test, or project examples in interview questions. However, be aware that most of us spend too much time on this, to the exclusion of Knowledge and Attributes. This is the easiest area to train for - it won’t do you any good to have a superb technician if they can’t work with your clients. How many times have you worked with someone who was good at what they did but drove you absolutely crazy? That is not something you hope to bring into your business or workgroup.
Attribute: a characteristic or quality of a person (or thing)
Now you need to look realistically at the workplace/group. What else does it need? Someone who is light-hearted or serious? Detail-oriented or a broad thinker? What kind of qualities do your interviewees project? I once hired someone because she politely but very firmly interrupted and corrected me during her job interview. The group she was joining needed more backbone and independence, so even though the rest of her personal presentation was a disaster, I knew she could be the right ingredient. It was an enormously successful hire, and had I not identified so clearly that group need, I might not have recognized her behavior as added value.
As you hire, just remember that who and what each team member is and does contributes to the final workgroup. Look at as many angles as possible, not just which applicant has the most job experience. By following these guidelines, you should find yourself with a new hire that will fit more closely with your workplace atmosphere and goals. Good luck, and Happy Hiring!
Ramona Abbott helps businesses maximize their efficiency, effectiveness and group dynamics. She utilizes proven techniques that are fun and affordable to help you improve your workplace in a variety of ways. She welcomes inquiries at 360-398-2606 or ramona@EssentiallyProfessional.com
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