From an organization’s perspective, the employment market is volatile. That is a given. While supposed recession pressures would also reflect a more favorable hiring market, little has eased at this point, and the number of unfilled positions in the US is at a recent record high.
Even if we have a shift in recruitment, are we hiring appropriately? Unfortunately, organizations continue to hire using a staid set of principles. First, we have an open position, then prepare a job description and post for the part typically looking for a person with the necessary skills and expertise. And not much more. Do we consider we may be hiring someone who may be integral to our team for possibly decades?
When do we consider if the person aligns with our purpose and values, what strengths we have within the team, where we may be lacking, and even more so, what our ambitions are? Instead, we hire people who are like us, have similar qualities and experiences to those we already have, and that we believe will give us harmony. We then discover we have more people who think the same way, struggle to get along because they are the same, and have even more significant gaps in our proficiencies. Imagine a sports team hiring people with precisely the same skills. Think football, basketball, baseball, and most team sports. Would they recruit players with the same skills to create an unbeatable team?
If we consider the cost of lousy hire – up to 30% of an employee’s first-year earnings and increasing in magnitude depending on the seniority of the position(anywhere from $17,000 to $240,000) – are we adequately taking the time to reflect on our hiring decisions?
Better hires require us to consider our organization, the team, and where we are going. We must understand the talent we have and not only their current performance but also their potential. What will success look like? With this information, we can begin to build our puzzles better. Yet, to be effective requires us to be objective and systematic.
Don’t rush the hiring process. Build in structured questions even for those soft skills, consider the job scorecard, learn from past hiring mistakes, and check on references thoroughly. Be conservative when there are doubts.
Some practices can increase success in recruitment, minimize mishaps, and reduce costs and disruption in productivity and positive morale. Seek outside support to review your procedures and help create a more robust hiring process.
Be deliberate and patient in hiring since those hires may hopefully be there for the long haul.
