Leadership Lessons: The Hiring Dilemma

Getting the Right People on the Bus

Do your managers consistently hire good people, who hit the ground running and become really productive? The lack of good hires impacts productivity, morale and even turnover. Why can't they hire winning talent?

Some Perspective

How many times have you met with a new hire who you knew would not work out within the first few days? Once is one time too many. Hiring the wrong person has many negative ripple effects on a team. But why do bad hires occur? In my experience, there are four fundamental reasons: the people interviewing candidates are not clear, nor do they agree on what it takes to be successful in the job.

The people interviewing candidates do not know how to conduct an effective and legal interview that uncovers pertinent information so that they can make a well-informed selection decision. The interviewing team does not have the most effective members to interview and select the best candidates.

The candidate isn't provided an effective opportunity to understand what the job and work environment are like, so they aren't making a well-informed decision when they say "yes." When candidates are unclear and do not agree on what is required to perform well in the job, the interviews will lack inter-rater reliability. This means that three managers could interview the same candidate and feel three different ways about that same candidate's ability to perform well in the role. Unfortunately, it happens all too often and leaves the interviewing team unable to make the best decision.

Many managers do not use a structured process for interviewing candidates. This is often attributed to the fact that they haven't been trained in interview and selection skills and strategies. Additionally, they may use team members who also have not been trained. All that adds up to is the probability of inconsistent success at hiring.

Because of the pressures to be productive and effectively use time, many managers go through the interview and selection process alone, rather than seek the input from team members currently in the job. This happens a lot. The common reason is "we can't spare the time away from projects and clients without falling behind." Unfortunately, the time and productivity lost from one bad hire after another far outweigh the time involving knowledgeable team members in the interview and selection process.

Research has shown that job-person fit is significantly linked to job satisfaction. Thus, when new hires begin work and realize that they had the wrong impression of the job requirements, this disconnect will inevitably cause problems for them and the hiring organization. When this happens, the likelihood that the candidate will stay is low, and then the search starts all over again.

A Solution

There is a solution. "Hiring Winning Talent" helps managers, supervisors, and team members understand how to use a structured process to identify, select, and hire the best and brightest people - people who truly fit the work requirements and the organization's requirements.

Wouldn't it be great if all new hires hit the road running and then stayed around long enough to become really productive? "Hiring Winning Talent" can help your managers, supervisors, and team members hire the right people and do it consistently.

"Hiring Winning Talent" is available in an 8-hour classroom workshop, a 4-hour online course, or a blended approach option, combining the ease of E-learning and the traditional classroom experience. This curriculum includes the following essential topics:

Defining What You're Looking For - the position description, job competencies, and questioning strategies
Planning the Interview - hiring strategy, sourcing, resume screening, the interview team, great reasons to work here
Conducting the Interview - an appropriate climate, conducting the interview, responding to challenging interviewee questions
Making the Selection - decision making guidelines, evaluating candidates, communicating with candidates
And more...

To learn more about "Hiring Winning Talent" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum download this 4-page PDF or watch this brief video.

The Vital Learning curriculum is available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options and includes the following essential topics...

Disciplining - understanding how to discipline others to eliminate problem behavior
Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
Developing Performance Goals and Standards - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards
Providing Feedback - knowing when and how to give feedback
And more...
For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org