11/ 08/ 2007
by Charles R. McConnell
What your employees do reflects on you. The hires you make, especially in your early days as a manager, will have a great deal to do with the impression you make on your customers, clients and others. Let's say the first person you hire turns out to be a colossal dud; others inside and outside the company might wonder how you ever got into management. This can adversely affect their regard for your judgment and capability as well as your own employees' view of you as a manager. Some people will see the employees you hire as an extension of yourself—and their regard for you can rise or fall, according to the way they perceive your hires.
Managers hiring for entry-level positions often commit one of the biggest recruiting mistakes: hiring hastily with an attitude that says, "if this one doesn't work out I can always get another." This reasoning is wrong on two counts. First, regard for the manager who hires hastily and carelessly is likely to be less than favorable. Secondly, the manager who goes rapidly through multiple hires ignores the real—and often substantial—direct and indirect costs of hiring and placing employees.
Hiring is an imperfect process at best. There is no foolproof formula for finding and screening job applicants and no way to guarantee that any given hire won't be a dud. No one has yet devised a reliable means of separating those who simply talk a good job from those who can do a good job. However, you can take some simple precautions to improve the chances that each hire you make will be the right one.
First, remain aware that hiring costs money. Including direct and indirect expenses, it can cost anywhere from one-half annual salary to twice annual salary to replace an employee. Every poor hire who has to be replaced represents a significant amount of unrecoverable cost.
Improving your chances of making the right hire begins with careful screening of applicants. Your human resources department may do this, but you should involve yourself in the process so you know the range of applicants available. You should first examine applications to weed out people who don't meet the minimum qualifications outlined in the job description. For those who meet the minimum qualifications and might be interviewed, you should note any apparent gaps in employment or educational histories for interview questioning. You should examine all applications of those you may interview for apparent inconsistencies, especially in education and experience.
Most working managers don't conduct interviews regularly. If you have an open position only every few months, you won't be intimately familiar with interviewing. Recognize this reality and get some sound advice on how to interview.
Much of an applicant's first impression of the company is formed in early personal interviews—perhaps a screening interview by human resources and a placement interview by the department manager responsible for the open position. Rarely does a central hiring authority who brings all employees on board and gives them to the department managers ever find the right hire.
In seeking the right hire, never assume that everyone you interview is desperately seeking this particular job. People with certain qualifications might be scarce, and if so, they can't be treated as sellers who have entered a buyer's market. Remember that many of the better candidates know they have other options.
Be especially sensitive to the information presented on a job candidate's application or resume. The majority of resumes contain some degree of exaggeration and a great many of them—as many as half, by some estimates—contain outright falsehoods. Secure written permission to verify employment experience and educational credentials, and make sure that key qualifications do get verified.
Give every applicant the opportunity to ask questions. The potentially best hires usually ask the best questions. The better applicants will ask about the job and its challenges before probing into the personal side of possible employment. Think twice about any applicant whose questions are all about pay and benefits.
Finally, in addition to discussing capabilities and experience, spend some time probing the applicant's reasons for seeking employment with you. Be especially sensitive to whether this applicant seems to be trying to better himself in some way (good) or simply trying to escape something (perhaps not so good).
No particular hire ever brings with it a guarantee of success, but with a little thought to these suggestions, it's possible to improve your chances of making the right hire.
