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 | May 9, 2019 | Employee Hiring
I have been retained to work with a company to hire a Vice President for their organization. We developed an ideal candidate list, reviewed the job description, began recruiting and interviewed until we had narrowed down to a single promising candidate. We have interviewed the woman 3 times and sent her the job description. She successfully completed a skills assignment and wrote a 30/60/90- day plan to ensure success for her potential new position. I have called references of former bosses, peers and direct reports. To date, we have completed the entire interviewing process with this candidate. The only component left is the actual choice to hire or not and my client could not decide either way. We have an interview team of 9 people, who when asked for their insight, all had differing and conflicting thoughts. As another of my clients once described, “This is muddy data.”
So, what happens when you have completed your entire interviewing system with a candidate yet still do not feel confident in a choice? Well, let me make it clear.
If you are truly unable to make a confident hiring decision about an individual, they are not the right person for the position. Simply stated, do not hire them. The cost of training, development and retention of your employees is too large of a risk to take on an uncertain selection. If you are still “not sure” after an intensive and comprehensive interview process, consider the effects of a potential bad hire on your clients, other employees, vendors, and other business partners. The stakes are too high for you to decide on muddy data.
Hiring a new person is a big turning point for you and you company. If you have doubts, return to the beginning of your interviewing process: look at your ideal candidate list again, make sure that the vision for this role is still accurate. Check the job ad and ask yourself, “Did I articulate the vision for this position clearly?” Ultimately, my best advice is to keep looking.
You WILL clear up any questions that you have by holding out for the right fit. When the right person for your company comes along, you will feel as if you have won the lottery. If you do not feel that way, hold out until you do. It will be in everyone’s best interest.
by Beth | May 1, 2019 | Employee Hiring
Forbes – April 30, 2019 “5 Trends Women Business Owners Need To Know Right Now” by Julie Niehoff cites Beth in her article.
“Beth Smith, author of Why Can’t I Hire Good People? Lessons on How to Hire Better, talks about the importance of the interview process, methodology behind sourcing candidates and the shift away from just looking at education and experience.”
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 | Jan 31, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Recruiting
I have had several business owners and hiring managers ask me about why candidates are “ghosting” them for interviews. In case you are not familiar with the term, ghosting means “the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly, and without explanation, withdrawing from all communication.”
Apparently, candidates are ghosting potential employers with increased frequency. The job seeker applies for a job and when the company calls them for an interview, the candidate either never responds or schedules the interview and then never shows up.
Several employers that I have discussed this issue with are really upset and rightly so, especially when the candidate schedules and does not show up for interviews.
If you are encountering this issue, here are a few suggestions:
- Most importantly, take a big deep breath. If a candidate does not up for an interview, you now have 30 minutes to an hour to get something else done that you may not have had time to accomplish in your day.
- The candidate did you a huge favor by not attending the interview. No call/so show behavior would have most likely appeared in their job performance if they had made it through the hiring process and began working for you. Be grateful – they just made your job easier by not having to fire them later.
- I am seeing ghosting from ALL levels of candidates from entry level to senior level and in all industries. It is not just you and your organization this is happening to, so do not take it personally.
- Remember: Employers are the ones that started ghosting when we quit responding to ALL candidate inquiries. A simple “thanks but no thanks” is all recruits want when they apply and are not chosen. As hiring professionals, it is hard to justify being too upset now that the tables have turned when non-responsiveness to candidates has become common place.
- Turn the opportunity into a positive learning experience. Remember that candidates also deserve your best customer service. Return messages, calls and emails in a timely fashion. Be courteous and do what you say you are going to do when you set expectations with your potential hires.
You cannot eliminate ALL ghosting from candidates, but you can do your part to create a great place to work. That means be a great “host” and quit being a “ghost”.
