Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes

Picking people for a job is like going to the store to buy apples. Before you go, you ought to know whether the apples are to be eaten fresh, make into applesauce, baked into a pie or made into juice. Then, you can make the appropriate choices. This is also true for hiring winners.

The goal of selection interviews, buying apples, is to make the most appropriate choices...to hire the right people for the job. The goal is to match applicants with openings. More specifically to match applicant's qualifications with the job requirements. The interview is a subjective tool that attempts to forecast a candidate's performance.

No selection tool can predict future performance with absolute certainty. But, if you understand the job requirements, examine the applicant's past performance and use good interviewing techniques, you're more likely to avoid bad hires. These are people who turn out to be a round pegs in square holes; people who you train and then leave; and people who just aren't motivated to give their best.

So how can you avoid such costly hiring mistakes?

According to Roger Staubach, "In business or in football, it takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results." Therefore, the first step to successful hiring is preparation. If you really want to know if that person you're interviewing has the requisite qualifications, you'll have to do more than a 30-second scan of the resume and "shoot from the hip" questions. A thorough, accurate, and focused job description is essential for effective interviewing. You may think it's a bureaucratic nuisance but it can be a valuable tool in deciding who is the best person for the position.

A job description is an outline of the primary responsibilities of the job. It should list the major task in order of importance. You need to have as complete a knowledge of the job as possible, not only the present "must have's" but the future needs of the position as well. Then you need to determine the skills required to perform the job. Job skills include technical skills and performance skills. Both are equally important.

Technical skills are typically learned through education, training, or on-the-job experience. For example, typing, computer programming, machine operation, financial analysis, and graphic design are all technical skills. You might think of technical skills as what a person "can do".

Performance skills are how a person will do the particular job. These are more like work habits and personal characteristics and are transferred from job to job. Flexibility, assertiveness, paying attention to details, ability to cope under pressure are all examples of performance skills. They are as important as technical skills.

Research has shown that many "bad hires" are due not for technical reasons but because of motivation, energy, values, or interpersonal skills. If you do not explore these skills, you may get a highly qualified person who is not able to work in a particular atmosphere or group of people.

Example:

In a recent conversation with a manager, who had just finished formulating a job description for the head of a growing information systems department, I was told: "Initially, I thought I needed someone who had technical mastery. But when I defined the job in terms of its objective, what I realized was that I needed someone who could develop the department and determine what the rest of the company required of it. I needed a communicator and negotiator, not an inspired computer wizard".

Three basic questions:

Remember, in any selection interview you need to know:

Can this person do the job that they are interviewing for? That's the technical fit - the basic skills to do the job.

Does she have the traits and desire to effectively do the job? That's the motivation fit - the basic personal attributes to do the job.

Does she fit into the culture? You know what works and what does not within your company, and this is a very important barometer of success.

Get The Edge: Start Hiring Winners!

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ? to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ? resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ? fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

---

Online Business Peace of Mind

Is your online business disaster-proof? Online businesses face a unique set of challenges. Unlike our offline counterparts, we must worry about hackers, credit-card fraud, loss of data, virus attacks, websites going down and... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Personality Testing

Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there are a number of inherent flaws. Some are noted below:a) Whether a creative or innovative type exists at all is highly contentious. Creativity... Read More

Human Resource Communication Pays Off

Human Resource Communications and Corporate Communications ? are they one in the same? Both plan and develop written communication strategies to further the understanding and perceptions of their audience. Both provide counsel and... Read More

Improving Patient Sensitivity in Doctors and Hospital Staff

COMPANY/ORGANIZATIONA South Florida hospital. The CEO of the hospital saw the need to provide exceptional customer service to differentiate itself from the competition and avoid being acquired.PROBLEMThe hospital was undergoing a series of... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Communication Breakdown

An ongoing series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNThe "Seven Cs" are the danger signs that indicate your business partnership, or any partnership... Read More

Profits and Business Success - 5 Profit Traps to Watch Out For

The old saying 'You have to spend money to make money' can be a dangerous one. Every business has it's costs, but not every business owner takes the time to distinguish between what... Read More

2 Steps For Increasing Company Profits or Performing Business Turnarounds

1. Eliminate wasteEliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes that waste time and money. These drain labor, money and energy from the business.Two-thirds of products or services sold incur more costs to... Read More

What Makes a Good Appraisal Interview?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW?Here is a tip for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. Give advance notice. Employees like to have advance notice of the appraisal session so... Read More

Leadership Style: What Makes A Good Boss?

In today's competitive environment, companies realize that a good boss is one who can identify and build on the talents of the staff and knows how to retain top performing employees. Take this... Read More

Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance

Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely lying to employees, demanding sacrifices that... Read More

Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question

Meetings ? they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it... Read More

You?re Hired, Now Go Home: Managing Workers at a Distance

Telecommuting or virtual work opens up a wider net of potential employees for businesses ? the disabled, the stay-at-home parent, the student, the retired, the flextime person, etc. However, it also creates unique... Read More

Management & Leadership - Doing it right in the 21st Century

The Old Way ? Command and ControlAlthough workplaces and management styles have come a long way in the last decade, the command and control style of management remains common practice in many companies.... Read More

Dialogue: the Four Dialogic Principles For Successful Communication

"But you don't understand!" exclaimed the manager, "this new initiative is vital for our team. If it doesn't work we could all be out of a job!" "Uh-huh... Really... Explain to me again... Read More

Getting the Most from Appraisals

Does your organisation have one of those annual 'occasions' that few look forward to: the annual appraisal or performance review? How do you look forward to it? I wonder how people talk about... Read More

Creativity Management ? Quality from Quantity

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

Developing Your Mission

"The best Leader is one who knows how to pick good people to do what he or she wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."... Read More

Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees

Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do... Read More

Use Noncompete Agreements To Protect Your Business

Q: One of my former employees has launched an online business very similar to mine and is contacting my clients and trying to steal their business from me. Do I have any legal... Read More

How To Hire Superstars

Can a person's behavior and values really determine if they will be a future SuperStar for your company? If you knew the formula for hiring SuperStars and could cut your recruiting costs in... Read More

Think Before You Talk

What you say to other people can make or break you and it can happen without you even knowing about it. That old saying "loose lips sink ships" is oh so true in... Read More

Work Environment Tidbits

Color is a big factor effecting all indoor environments. Since most of us spend many hours each day at work, the coloring of the space has a big impact on us.... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance

This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and... Read More

Squeezing the Blood Out of that Old Turnip

I suspect all of you out there have someone that you rely on for insight and perspective ? that wise old mentor that seems to have an unlimited depth of experience to draw... Read More

Business Innovation ? the Value of Work Processes

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

Give Yourself a Boss? Day Gift

Become a better boss and reap the benefitsAnother interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention. It reveals that employees who are happier and treated well, produce better results than... Read More

How To Decrease Profits Without Really Trying

Hurting your sales efforts can be accomplished easily with the proper guidance. The following effective yet simple ideas are designed to generate results when implemented into your sales strategy.? Don't listen to what... Read More

A Facilitators Guide to Running a Stakeholder Analysis Workshop

This facilitator's guide to running a stakeholder analysis workshop is for people whose success depends on getting other people involved with their objectives.It contains two exercises, one to work with stakeholder groups, and... Read More

Business & Family Safety and Health Rating

For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated. I've seen ratings on who or what's #1 in business, industry, NFL, NBA, MLB, person of the century, athlete of the century, technology,... Read More