Common Hiring Mistakes

If you have ever made a hiring mistake, read on. One of the difficult challenges facing managers is finding good talent among the seemingly limited number of available manpower resources today. Let’s assume for the moment however that you are in the market for a new employee and you have several positive candidates to select from. One of the keys to a successful employee is ‘hiring right’. When you hire under pressure you will tend to hire beneath your standards. The general rule of thumb is to: hire attitudes and teach skills.

It is easier to teach someone new job skills than it is to change their values, beliefs, attitudes or philosophy. So, you are sitting across the desk from one of the above potential candidates. What do you do? Well, the first thing is to avoid making one of several common hiring mistakes. They are:

1. Talking too much.

2. Giving information before you get information.

3. Developing the ‘halo’ effect.

4. Over selling the position.

5. Alluding to future opportunities that may or may not be realistic.

6. Pre-judging the candidate due to any number of factors.

7. Unlawful (discriminatory) questions.

8. Seeing the resume as an honest reflection of the person’s potential.

9. Not having an interview plan.

10. Failing to take accurate notes during the interview.

11. Not asking enough open ended questions.

12. Rushing the interview or taking too much time.

13. Not having an ‘ideal job profile’.

14. Delegating the reference check to a subordinate or different department.

15. Failing to check references.

16. Not using a variety of hiring techniques: testing, agencies, 2nd or even a

third interview.

17. Forcing a fit.

18. Not comparing candidates equally.

19. Failing to get another person’s opinion on the candidates.

20. Letting someone else make the hiring decision when it will be your

responsibility to manage them

There are many others, but these are the most common ones.

Are you guilty of any of the above? If so sooner or later you will make a hiring mistake that can cost your organization time, money, customers, etc. When in doubt and all criteria with two or more candidates are similar such as - experience, education, ability, interviewing skills, references, skill sets etc. – Hire the person who wants the job the most and hire the person who feels right. Trust your gut (I repeat: only when ALL hiring criteria are the same)

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 91 Challenges Managers Face Today and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at www.timconnor.com

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