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HOW TO
AVOID THE MOST COSTLY HIRING MISTAKES, PART 1
The two most costly hiring mistakes
are:
1. Hiring the wrong
person, the one not suited for the job (Mr. or Ms. Wrong);
2. Not hiring the
right person, the one with the potential to be a great
performer (Mr. or Ms. Right).
Each of these hiring mistakes can have devastating
consequences. In
order to give each the attention it
deserves, this month’s newsletter will cover how to identify
and avoid the first hiring mistake in the list above, and
January’s newsletter will be devoted to how to identify and
avoid the second one.
To begin,
let’s define who the wrong and right people
are. In your
mind, make a list of all the employees you have ever had. Now rank them,
starting with the best employee, and then the next best, and
so on, right down to the employee you most deeply regretted
hiring. Use
whatever criteria seem most important to you. Next, we are going to
assume that the name at the top of your list, the best
employee you have ever had, is your Mr. or Ms.
Right. Similarly,
the last name of your list will serve as the prototype for
your Mr. or Ms. Wrong. With this in mind,
let’s look at the costs associated with hiring Mr. or Ms.
Wrong.
The Costs Of Hiring Mr. or Ms.
Wrong
1. Mr./Ms. Wrong will
probably take a little longer to get through training or
familiarization with the new job. He or she may make
more “unnecessary” mistakes (that is, mistakes outside the
normal range of expected mistakes, mistakes also known as
“stupid” mistakes), both in the training/familiarization phase
and afterwards.
2. Mr. or Ms. Wrong’s
productivity may lag behind what you expected. Mr. or Ms. Wrong will
always have excuses for his or her poor performance, but
improvement will usually take longer than you expect it to, if
it happens at all. In addition, Mr. or
Ms. Wrong’s poor performance may have a negative effect on the
work team’s morale. Aside from any bad
attitudes Mr./Ms. Wrong may have, your productive employees
will likely be offended by the fact that Mr. or Ms. Wrong’s
poor productivity tends to slow the team down. Remember, the “Convoy
Principle” says that the convoy can only go as fast as the
slowest boat.
Adding a “slow boat” to a rapidly moving work team means that
the slow boat will probably not win any popularity contests
with the team.
3. Your employees who
have client contact are your ambassadors to clients, potential
customers, and the business community at large. If Mr. or Ms. Wrong
has client contact, he or she may end up damaging your
company’s reputation. In the worst-case
scenario, some clients may see Mr. or Ms. Wrong as
representative of your company and decide they want a better
quality purveyor.
How Does This Hiring Mistake
Happen?
Not on
purpose, that’s for sure. Yet hiring the wrong
person does happen and there are two main reasons for it.
#1. Empty-Position
Pressure
The
pressure to fill the vacant position gets to you. The position is
critical and the longer it goes unfilled, the more of a drag
it is on the company. The pressure to get
someone – anyone! – placed in the position builds and, as the
pressure builds, the ability to evaluate applicants
objectively diminishes. You start thinking,
“This position doesn’t require a rocket scientist, so stop
being so picky.”
Applicants you wouldn’t have given a second look earlier begin
to look acceptable. In fact, if you squint
your eyes enough when looking at the applicant’s downsides,
then the applicant’s pluses begin to really stand out. Pretty soon you will
have convinced yourself that the applicant in front of you is
the person for the job, despite some serious shortcomings on
his or her part.
#2: The Halo
Effect
The
“Halo Effect” occurs when we encounter a person with whom we
share a valued experience. When this happens, we
automatically feel a connection to that person. This connection
results in our attributing all sorts of positive attributes to
the person based solely on the connection we feel and almost
always without being aware of the reason we have done so. For example, an
applicant’s resume indicates that he went to the same college
that you attended and, in fact, he was in your much-beloved
fraternity. The
applicant’s stock automatically goes up in your eyes. “He must be a
heck-of-a-guy,” you find yourself thinking, “In fact, just the
sort of guy I’ve been looking for.” You have a great time
in the interview re-living college days, which results in your
learning a lot about his college experiences but probably less
about his job-relevant qualifications for the job: how relevant is the
applicant’s work experience? Does his education and
training suit him for the job? Is he likely to get
along with his prospective boss, coworkers, subordinates,
purveyors, etc.?
Many of these questions go unanswered or only partially
answered. Your
reasoning may be as follows: You value your own
experiences in your fraternity and the applicant “obviously”
valued his fraternity experiences. You turned out pretty
well in this company, so that means that, if hired, the
applicant will turn out pretty well in this company also.
Awareness, Awareness,
Awareness – The Way To Avoid Hiring Mr. Or Ms.
Wrong
You can avoid
making hiring mistakes primarily by keeping yourself aware, at
all times, of the subtle pressure to make them. You may want to go so
far as to tape a note where you can see it of the
following two kinds of awareness.
Avoid Empty-Position Pressure by Maintaining an
Awareness of the Pressure
Maintain an
awareness of the fact that simply filling the position with a
warm body is a good way to create problems for yourself down
the road. The
odds are you are going to be spending lots of time dealing
with the problems Mr. or Ms. Wrong creates, and that they have
the potential to be greater than the problems associated with
the vacant position. Remember that one way
to decrease “empty-position pressure” is to cross train
employees so that if you are suddenly faced with an open
position, others are familiar enough with it that the workload
can be split among several people until the position is
filled.
Avoid The Halo Effect by Maintaining an Awareness of the
Halo Effect’s Power
Maintain an
awareness of the fact that we are all vulnerable to the Halo
Effect. When you
meet someone from your old home town, your old military
outfit, or from some other shared and valued experience you
have had, the automatic response is to warm to the person and
start attributing all manner of positive attributes to him or
her. Use your
awareness of the Halo Effect to desensitize yourself to its
effect. A good
way to do that is to make a list of the experiences you have
had that you value highly enough to put you at risk of falling
under the “Halo Effect” with an applicant. Here’s an example of a
list that might apply to you:
·
Someone who is from your home town
·
Someone who attended the same college you did
·
Someone who has the same, or similar, military experience
·
Someone who has the same political attitudes and values
·
Someone who shares your enthusiasm for a particular sport or
sports team
·
Someone who seems so much like you that he or she can finish
your sentences (this is a really subtle one!)
In fact, any
point of view that you value highly has the potential to
create a “Halo Effect” when you meet an applicant who also
feels the way you do. When this happens,
remind yourself that in spite of this connection, you still
need to verify the work-related requirements of the job in
question.
Hiring Mr. or Ms. Wrong can create problems that ripple
throughout the company. To avoid these
problems, take heed of the inscription that is engraved on a
patriotic statue in Washington, D.C.: “Eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty.” Eternal
vigilance is also the best way to avoid hiring Mr. or Ms.
Wrong.
Next
Month: How to
avoid the other most costly hiring mistake – Not hiring
Mr. or Ms. Right. | 
