Ecstatic about finding a guru in your chosen industry, you accommodate the new hire’s desire for a windowed office. When he asks if he can take the first week off to find a place to live, you tell him “no problem.” But then he shares that he’ll need to go on vacation a few weeks into the new job, as the vacation is pre-paid and he simply forgot to mention it. You begin to think his resume and acumen may not be synchronized. Has this happened to you?
According to a recent article, titled Five Ugly Numbers That You Can’t Ignore-It’s Time to Calulate Hiring Failures by John Sullivan, a well known name in the staffing industry,
- 66% regret hiring decisions — Nearly two-thirds of hiring managers come to regret their interview-based hiring decisions (Source: DDI)
- 50% new executive turnover — nearly half of new executive hires quit or are fired within the first 18 months at a new employer (Source: Corporate Leadership Council).
- Less than 50% are qualified — a majority of managers surveyed (59%) believe that less than half of all candidates they interviewed were qualified (Source: eBullpen, LLC).
- 65% lie on resumes — the key data source that we rely on to source and narrow down applicants contains untrue information more than half the time (Source: The Risk Advisory Group )
- Resume-sorting failures — Of all the “perfect resumes” sent out by mystery shopper candidates, only 12% were actually scheduled for interviews (Source: Hodes’ Healthcare).
You cannot ignore these statistics, yet what can you do to rectify the situation?
- Don’t always believe the resume. Technical skills are important but the person’s accomplishments and potential may be much more important.
- Always prepare adequately before you interview any candidates.
- People loathe being asked the same questions repeatedly during the interviewing process. The same questions can be asked but in a different way to assure consistency. Planning is imperative.
- Clear expectations are critical. The candidate wants and needs to know what the duties and responsibilities are before he or she will ever agree to interview. The job description needs to be engaging. Would you want to do the job? Make it enticing!
- Identify what you mean by a successful hire. What are the characteristics, not technical skills only, of your best employee?
- Don’t allow someone with extraordinary communication skills to “wow” you into a bad hiring situation. Behavioral interviewing helps this situation but it is not the only way to assess top talent.
- Set dates for interviewing in advance and try with all your heart and soul to stick with the schedule. If you don’t have time to interview, you don’t have time to hire.
In a three year study by Leadership IQ, the researchers found 26% of new hires fail because they can’t accept feedback, while 23% fail because they don’t handle their emotions well and 17% fail because they lack motivation to excel. Those are dismal figures, especially if you neglect preparation for any hiring spree.
If you are a hiring manager, you need to be in regular communication from the inception of the idea of hiring with the recruiter who will be assisting you. The mantra of clear and realistic expectations leads to the success you require, especially in this market. Don’t throw new requirements into the mix as you go. Work together as a team. If your company will not let the hiring managers talk with the agencies, there is a glitch in the system. You will have a lower success rate if the entire team is not communicating. Regular updates between the hiring manager and staffing team are mandatory. A weekly conference call increases the likelihood for success.
If you want top talent, you will be far more successful if you take the time for planning and communication throughout the process. You don’t want to be one of the statistics, do you?