6 Steps to Avoiding a 'Mis-Hire'
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A bad hire can cause you a lot more than a headache. According to job recruitment firm KeenHire, the cost of a "mis-hire" can cost companies three times the annual salary of the individual. Since the Harvard Business Review estimates that 80 percent of mis-hires are caused by bad hiring decisions, businesses may need to start paying more attention to job applicants to avoid wasting time and money in the hiring process.
"As people and professionals, we tend to spend more time researching which cellphone to buy or which software will help grow our business than assessing a much more important concept — human behavior and talent," said Paul Eccher, co-founder and principal of talent management organization The Vaya Group. "However, people are a company’s greatest asset and by making sound recruitment decisions, executives can drive productivity and strengthen talent."
To help in this process, The Vaya Group has some advice for businesses looking to avoid being burned by bad hiring decisions. According to The Vaya Group, the six steps employers must avoid in order to find the right talent are:
· Inadequate Assessment— The authors warn not focus strictly on past work experience in the interview, as that will not give a true sense of the potential employee. Companies should instead focus on talent assessment, rather than simply looking at past experience.
· Using Faulty Assumptions— Companies must also put potential employees through a variety of interview methods to show what kind of person they truly are. Hiring managers can be helped by understanding exactly what is needed in the job, in order to hire the right person for the open position.
· Asking the Wrong Questions— Interviewers must be sure to stay on topic in the interview in order to use the interview as a means to clarify information about potential employees.
· Unprepared Interviewers— Businesses should make sure that all people on the interview team have a specific job and task in order to make sure that they will be able to best assess the fit of a potential employee.
· Not Assessing for Cultural Fit— Interview teams should be sure to inform the interviewee about the culture of the organization as that is often a large determining factor in the later success of the hire.
· Insufficient Onboarding— While some people may think that the interview process is done when the new employee is hired, the authors recommend that organizations help coach in the first months after hiring them, to ensure their success.
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"As the economy lifts up and companies start hiring again, it’s sometimes tempting to jump into the hiring process without first doing your homework," said Linda Sharkey, human resource and organization development expert at The Vaya Group. "However, it’s important for employers to enter the hiring process with a very clear picture of the job they’re looking to fill and the employee characteristics they want so that all parties, including the company, benefit from the new addition."
According to the authors, this will allow an organization to make the right hires, spend money correctly and help ensure future success. The above information is part of "Optimizing Talent: What Every Leader and Manager Needs to Know to Sustain the Ultimate Workforce"(Information Age Publishing, 2010) which was authored by Sharkey and Eccher.
Reach BusinessNewsDaily staff writer David Mielach at Dmielach@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @D_M89.