http://gradsgate.com/?s=H19-101_V5.0 by Beth | Aug 28, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Selecting Good Candidates
Last week I had a client call me in a panic. He was about to lose a large government contract, because he hadn’t hired a much-needed engineer. We were in the process of filling the position, but we weren’t moving fast enough for the government. Now I have heard it all!
If you know me and my hiring philosophy at ALL, you know that I am not an advocate for fast hires. I believe very strongly that hiring fast means you will hire wrong. It is so easy to make mistakes when you move too quickly, and as Robert Plotkin states in his book buy prednisone online now Preventing Internal Theft, “It’s better to operate short-staffed for a period of time and rely on your existing staff than hiring someone unqualified or inappropriate for the establishment.”
However, no rule is correct or applicable 100% of the time. When you are in the situation my client found himself in, and you are faced with losing a few million dollars in government contracts, you need to hire fast. My advice for this situation was hire someone quickly, get the position filled, AND continue to look for the right fit. If the quick-hire person works out, (and it does about 1/3 of the time) then wonderful. Everyone is happy. If they don’t work out, remember this was a short-term solution, and be grateful for that.
Hire fast when absolutely necessary. Hire right for long-term success.
by Beth | May 23, 2019 | Adventures in Interviewing, Employee Hiring
I was having a lovely conversation with a potential new vendor a few weeks back. I was telling her about how my bad hire so many years ago had made national news and launched my career as an interviewing coach. I told her that this was a club where no one wanted to be a member. She graciously laughed and then said to me, “You received a lifetime membership to the BHA: Bad Hires Anonymous”.
Boy did I ever.
All of the clients that I have worked with over the years have been and are currently a member of this club. It is almost like you have to be a member before you understand the true devastation of a bad hire.
Please note that you are not alone. Here is the criteria for club membership: Anyone who has been in business for any length of time who has ever hired an employee, and anyone who has been in charge of employees, has at some point made a bad hire.
What I want you to know is that it is not you. A bad hire isn’t something to be ashamed of or something that you need to hide. It is simply an indicator of a skill set that you need to learn and that you ensure that your employees learn.
In the meantime, welcome to the club.
by Beth | Mar 28, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Employee Retention, Firing Employees, Good Management
I received a call from a potential client who had recently fired an under-performing employee. This employee was wreaking havoc on the work culture, missing deadlines, throwing others under the bus in meetings and not taking responsibility for their actions. Firing this employee was exactly the right move to make.
“So, why don’t I feel better?” he asked.
First, if you ever feel good after you have fired someone, you have lost your humanity and must take a long vacation, effective immediately. In other words, I would worry deeply if you DIDN’T feel bad after firing someone. After all, these are people not cogs.
Second, the relationship is over, along with your hopes and dreams for an outstanding performance from the individual. You would not have hired someone that you did not believe could do the job and do it well. When it does not work out as expected, it can feel awful and be perceived as a failure.
Third, you may now be concerned that you have poor judgement and are not skilled at hiring. You begin to think about the time and energy it takes to search for candidates and to wonder if you will ever find the right fit.
There is a way to feel better and restore your confidence.
Ask yourself:
- Did you observe something during the interview process that you knew could have been an issue, but you ignored it?
- Did you give this person an appropriate level of training to be successful in their position?
- Did you give them coaching and council to improve performance with time for course correction?
- Did you let them know, in no uncertain terms, that without improvement they would be fired?
Only through a thorough review process of a poorly performing employee post-employment, from search to departure, can you identify places to improve hiring and retention.
Then after you debrief, I want you to breathe and cut yourself some slack. Everyone has a bad hire occasionally. You did the best you could in that moment. You will do better next time. I believe in you!
by Beth | Feb 13, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Hiring Managers, Interview Process, Leadership
I met with a potential client last week who is searching for a new Director of Sales. He reports making several “mis-hires” of this particularly key position in his company. He reached out to me to develop a better recruiting and hiring program as his current method did not appear to be working.
He said to me during our discussion, “I just don’t know what I am doing wrong, Beth.”
I said to him, “How much time do you take to prepare before you interview someone?”
He looked at me blankly and then replied, “Prepare? What do you mean?”
“Let me re-phrase the question,” I said. “When you are about to interview a sales person, what preparation do you do before you interview them?”
He said, “Well, I review their resume. Then I interview them.”
“How much time does that typically take you?” I asked.
“A few minutes to review the resume, then the actual interview,” he asserted.
“How much money does a good salesperson make for you in a year?” I asked.
He responded with, “A good salesperson will generate 3-4 million in revenue.”
“So, you spend a few minutes preparing for a multi-million dollar investment?” I observed.
I was met with silence after this last statement, followed by a deep sigh of revelation from this employer.
The lesson in this story? If you want your new employee to be successful in their new position, you must prepare BEFORE you hire them to set them up with great training, realistic expectations and a definition of desired job performance. To prepare, remember to create an ideal candidate list, a solid job description, and an established, consistent interview process before you talk to anyone!
Remember these 5 P’s of business: Prior preparation prevents poor performance. You want the best employee that money can buy. Prepare for them!
by Beth | Sep 20, 2018 | Employee Hiring
I received a call from a former client recently who is losing a valued employee. She said, “You know Beth, we weren’t using your process back then, and this employee would never have gotten past the third interview.”
I said to her “Do you know why?”
She said, “Yes! The third interview is all about passion for a position and this employee doesn’t love what we do.”
I have had so many hiring managers and CEOs want to shorten the interview process and rob themselves of one of the most critical steps in the hiring process. I completely understand why. Many of them are in a hurry and impatient to fill a position. Some are afraid that they will lose the candidate to another opportunity or worse, they are afraid they will NEVER find anyone and just hire someone already! All of this is a perfect recipe to a bad hire.
As Warren Buffet so aptly stated, “Money flows from the impatient to the patient.” So do candidates, houses, opportunities, etc.
The third interview measures how passionate the candidate is for the work that you are offering them. If they aren’t loving the job you offer, their skill set doesn’t matter, their availability doesn’t matter, their experience doesn’t matter.
Another client called me today and said “Thank GOD for the third interview! I just avoided a horrible hiring mistake because I followed the process completely! Thank you, Beth!”
You’re welcome! Keep following your interviewing system! It is designed to find you great employees, not “good enough” employees.
