Many managers we speak to complain about their inability to hire great talent. They often feel they could just as easily flip a coin to make the choice.
But you don’t have to settle for the odds of a coin flip!
What would be the impact of increasing your success in hiring to 60, 70, 80, or even 90%? What if you could quickly correct the hiring mistakes you made? How would your life change?
Imagine you have a magic wand just for hiring. This magic wand would enable you to find and hire the ideal person for each of the roles under your supervision. These ideal candidates will love their jobs because they are naturally suited for the challenges. They will understand the expectations of their role and deliver the success outcomes you desire. These great fits will crave direct and honest feedback so they can improve and grow both personally and professionally. They will buy into and work towards accomplishing departmental and company-wide goals.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not. You already have the magic wand. It just needs some fine-tuning.
Mindset
The first step is to change your mindset about hiring. Most managers dread having to hire someone, especially in today’s labor market. Yes, it can be a time-intensive and laborious process, but what you should be really thinking about is what an amazing opportunity you have to grow your team.
As a manager, there is nothing more important than getting the Right People in the Right Seats. We firmly believe that great companies are built by great people. But they can’t help you build your company until they get hired.
Every hire presents the chance for you to improve your team, your department, and your company. Whether someone left by choice or by force, this is a great opportunity for you to strengthen your workforce. By hiring great people you’ll be able to help your company reach new heights.
Talent Acquisition Is a Process
If you take nothing else from this blog, imprint these five words in your memory: Talent Acquisition Is A Process. It is not an event. Repeat these five words every time you make a hire. The process that we teach will do two things: help you make better hires with fewer mistakes and help you quickly correct any mistakes that you do make – and you will make some, you’re human.
Having a set system for hiring will drastically improve the success of your hires. But you must develop patience as it is not a fast process. You have to take your time to ensure you are doing it properly, especially at first.
Here’s the PSE Hiring Process that we teach our clients:
- Define the role
- Review Resumes
- Hold Screening Interviews
- Hold First Interviews
- Run Behavioral Assessments
- Contact References
- Hold Second Interviews
- Make an Offer
It all starts with defining the role. How can you make a great hire if you don’t even know what you’re hiring for? This is a crucial step that many companies don’t spend enough time on. Clearly lay out the expectations for the role so that you, your new hire, and their peers all know exactly what they are expected to do.
This role clarity will not only help you make better hires, but it will also cut the length of time that you will tolerate a bad hire. You will still make mistakes, no system is foolproof, but you’ll know you’ve made one almost immediately and be able to correct it quickly. The ability to fire fast is very important to your success. Poor-performing employees who are allowed to linger create what we call Sanctioned Incompetence in your company. This creates disengagement in others and causes high performers to leave.
Follow the Process
You are developing a process for improving your success when hiring. Stick to the process. Make it your own. Do not skip any part of the process. Make it company policy. Know and trust it. Above all, FOLLOW it.
It takes work to hire great talent. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Understand there are no shortcuts. Many, many managers hate the hiring process when we start to work with them. They simply want to get it over with and be done.
Understand that, as a manager, there is no greater responsibility to yourself, the candidate, and the company than hiring the right talent. Doing this well will make your job a lot easier. Can you imagine a chef starting with the wrong ingredients? A carpenter starting with the wrong tools and materials? Why should you start with the wrong person for a role? Follow the process, and you’ll get the right person.
Be Objective
An important component of a good hiring process is to remain neutral. Let the facts speak for themselves. Being neutral allows you to see all of the pluses and minuses of a candidate. If you are not seeing any negatives, you are not doing your job. No one is perfect.
Everyone has prejudices. We are most comfortable with those who act and behave as we do, the similarity attraction bias. People are quick to hear information that reinforces what they already think about a candidate, the confirmation bias. We prefer people who went to the same school we did, the affinity bias. There are many different types of biases you can bring to the table. In order to hire well you must know yourself well enough to neutralize your natural prejudices. You can’t let these unconscious biases and preferences affect how you feel about a candidate.
Remember, hire slow, fire fast.
This isn’t a race. You have to take the time you need to make sure you make the right decision. Slowing down the process to ensure that you know exactly what you’re looking for before you start looking will dramatically increase your chances of success.
You will be collecting a lot of data as a part of every hire. Their resume, employment history, cover letter, references, interviews, and behavioral and motivational assessments will all tell you a story. Make sure that you take enough time to really hear what that story is telling you.
All that data will help you make the right hiring decision if you use it effectively. And that will set you, your team, your company, and your new hire up for long-term success.
