First, The Source Of The
Problem
How often have
you hired someone with high expectations for his performance
based on his previous work experience, only to be disappointed
when his performance fell short of your expectations? Unrealistic
expectations about a new-hire’s proficiency based on what you
know about his previous work experience can result in giving
him more responsibility than he can handle and expecting
better results than he can produce. The disappointment
that results can have a negative effect on your new employee’s
morale and motivation. As a result, you are
faced with missed deadlines, decreased teamwork and, if the
situation is not turned around, early turnover and the costs
that go with it.
Two Biases
Evaluating an
applicant’s relevant work experience requires an objective
appraisal of exactly what the applicant has done on previous
jobs and how that experience will help him do the job you are
hiring him for.
This evaluation suffers from two biases that need to be
recognized right up front: one is yours and the
other is the applicant’s.
Your Bias
As a result of
the pressure to fill the position, there is a tendency to see
the work experience the applicant reports as being more
ideal for the vacant position than, in reality, it may
be. In addition
to work experience, there are so many things to be checked in
the hiring process (education credentials, other background
information, possible drug use) that a sense of urgency to get
the process completed easily develops. When this happens, it
is easy to just accept the reported work experience as
adequate.
The Applicant’s Bias
The applicant
is under pressure also, the pressure to get a job. As a result, he wants
to make a good enough impression to start a paycheck coming
in. In order to
increase his odds of employment, he may, to paraphrase a line
from an old song, “accentuate the positive and eliminate the
negative” in the way he reports his work experience.
Five Dangerous
Assumptions
Both of these
biases are natural responses to the demands faced by
applicants and hiring managers. However, if they are
not taken into consideration, they can distort the perception
of an applicant’s work experience. For the hiring
manager, the best defense against this distortion is to be
aware of its potential negative impact. Armed with this
awareness, you can better avoid the following assumptions:
-
Resume Assumptions - Assuming that the applicant can
do the job because his resume shows that he has worked for
other companies in your industry.
-
Interview Assumptions – Assuming that the applicant
can do the job because he says he can and he sounds
convincing when he says it.
-
Reference Check Assumptions – Assuming he can do the
job because your calls to previous employers were “OK.”
-
Job Title Assumptions – Assuming he can do the job
because the job title (for example, “Manager”) is one he
indicates he has held before.
-
Prestige Assumptions – Assuming that he can do the
job because he is well known locally, in the industry, or
nationally.
Indulging in any of the above assumptions can result in
hiring an under-qualified person. In order to avoid
expecting too much from an applicant’s reported work
experience, try the following:
1. To Avoid Resume
Assumptions
Verify that the applicant actually worked for the
companies listed on his resume. Did he actually did
work for the companies in the position(s) that he
claims? The
practice of padding one’s resume is rampant and the desire to
get the job may result in some applicants giving themselves
unearned “promotions” when they prepare their resumes. If it all checks out,
the next thing to ascertain is how closely the applicant’s
experience in other companies matches what the job in your
company will require of him.
2. To Avoid The
Reference Check Assumption
Try to reach
a person who actually worked with the applicant; the best case
would be to be able to talk with a former boss. You are most often
referred to the Personnel office and only dates of employment
are confirmed.
However, if you can get through to a former boss or coworker,
you stand a better chance of getting specific information
about what duties and tasks the applicant was responsible for
and how well he did them.
3. To Avoid The Interview
Assumption
Confidence in
an applicant is a good thing, but it can work against the
applicant if it leads him to claim expertise he doesn’t
have. Once again,
keep in mind that the applicant’s goal is to do whatever is
necessary in order to make the kind of impression in the
interview that will lead to a job offer. Question the applicant
carefully about what his actual job duties were, what he spent
most of his time doing. Be wary of responses
that describe results (“I lowered departmental costs by
25%”.) Follow
them with questions that focus on what the applicant actually
did to achieve those results (“What did you do to accomplish
that?”) If you
don’t feel that you have a thorough understanding of the
specifics of the job in question, have a coworker who knows
the job sit in on the interview.
4. To Avoid The Job Title
Assumption
The job title
for the position in your company may be the same as the job
title the applicant has held in the past, but the duties and
responsibilities can vary greatly from one company to
another. One
example is the job with the title of “Sanitation
Engineer.” In one
company this job title may require an engineering degree and
even certification beyond the degree, while the same job title
in a different company may refer to the janitor.
5. To Avoid The Prestige
Assumption
We tend to
attribute all kinds of positive characteristics and
competencies to people who are highly visible because of their
activities in local or national organizations. This “halo effect”
results in a tendency to generalize from the person’s
visibility to a number of undefined, positive
characteristics: “…if he is an
officer in the industry organization, then he must surely be
able to come to work for us as a department head.” But it ain’t
necessarily so.
The duties and responsibilities of these two positions may be
very different, and being qualified to handle one does not
automatically mean being qualified to handle the other.
The
“gold standard” with regard to work experience is two to five
years of successful, relevant work experience – that is, work
that has the same duties and responsibilities that the
applicant will have if you hire him. The closer you come to
meeting this gold standard, the less likely you will have to
deal with disappointment in the new-hire’s performance. Remember what happens
when you assume:
ass/u/me = you make an ASS (out of) U (and) ME.
| 
Feature Article: 5 Assumptions
To Avoid When You Look At An Applicant's
Experience | 
FEATURE ARTICLE: 5
Assumptions To Avoid When You Look At An Applicant's
Experience
