There’s an old saying, “The best candidate doesn’t always get the job.” If you’ve ever made a bad hiring decision, don’t worry: You’re in good company. All leaders and managers select bad hires, even if they don’t know it. The difference is that really great leaders recognize their mistake and correct it as soon as possible.
All hiring managers are sure to make bad hiring decisions. This is because they make their decisions based on situational questions, content on a résumé and mostly by their emotions (gut feelings). Selecting a bad hire is understandable, but accepting it and not doing anything about it will cost an organization greatly.
Although nothing can ensure success in all cases all of the time, there are three things that can assist you in staying on track as you hire.
Interview before you have an opening
Build your bench. This means managers should not wait to hire until they have an opening. Rather, they should prepare for an opening. Many bad hiring decisions are made because of the urgent need for a person to fill an open spot and they don’t have the time to properly interview candidates to ensure the best candidate is chosen.
Building the bench is also a great way to allow a leader to hold their current employees accountable to high achievement. Much like in sports where professional athletes must perform every year to keep their jobs (in some cases every day), due to draft day coming every year and the fact that there are many players looking to get that job. We should hold ourselves to the same standard in business. A leader owes it to the entire team to always be looking to add higher-caliber employees, and employees should expect it. This is not a loyalty issue; loyalty shouldn’t be based on tenure, but on contribution. Everybody wants to be a part of a winning team, and leaders of great teams recruit to hire better people, not to replace those who left.
Take action. Regardless of your budget restraints, actual open head count or current success, conduct one interview per month for the rest of 2013 and let your team know this.
Don’t hire a victim
No skill or experience can outweigh the bad effects of a victim. No matter the track record, years of experience or how well the interview went, under no circumstances should a leader who desires to build top teams and hold their people accountable hire a person with “victim disease.”
A person with “victim disease” believes it is always someone else’s fault when they fail or run into obstacles.
They often believe they work harder than everybody else and that their former managers and/or co-workers did things wrong. Keep in mind, this means that most likely their future manager and/or co-workers will do everything wrong as well. This person never takes personal responsibility for failures, or when they do, they have an excuse that points to something or someone else. Most importantly, a person with “victim disease” rarely knows they have it.
Leaders need to ask questions during an interview or conversation to find it. There are many such questions out there, but here are a couple:
“Have you ever been part of a project that failed but it wasn’t your fault?”
“Tell me about your least favorite and then most favorite supervisor.”
“Why were they your favorite or least favorite?”
There is no one answer that will tell the hiring manager that the applicant is a victim, but the feeling and energy they give while answering the questions usually will tell the interviewer.
Side note: a person with “victim disease” gets passed over when they don’t get a job or promotion they wanted, but a person without victim disease understands that at that time a different person was chosen because the hiring manager felt the other person was a better fit. They are also working toward becoming the right fit and can tell you what they are working on.
Take action. Prior to interviewing, know the attributes and skills you are looking to hire. More importantly, know what attributes you are looking to avoid.
Fire faster
All leaders make bad hiring decisions, and the key to not letting it destroy your team’s success may be in the firing. This does not mean to throw new hires to the wolves and see if they can survive. Instead, give new hires the tools necessary to succeed and hold them accountable to the right attitude and activities. Many companies have probationary periods where the applicant can be terminated without all of the red HR tape.
Whether there is a probationary period or not, it is the leader’s job to work within the rules and laws to make sure all bad hires don’t become long-term bad employees.
What is fast? That’s up to the leader and organization to decide, but some would say that 30 days is pretty fast.
Once a leader identifies that a new employee is not doing the right activities or does not have the right attitude, they need to address it with the employee immediately. Be sure to ask the employee their perspective and give clear expectations as to what it will take in the near future to remain in the organization.
Remember, a bad hire doesn’t mean they’re bad people; sometimes it just means they are not a right fit for the position or organization. Doing the right thing is rarely easy, but it is always right, for all parties involved.
Take action. Spend time with new employees and pay attention to their activities, attitude and results, and take the necessary action. Not every hire is the right hire, and not every job is the right job, but accepting a bad decision is wrong for everyone involved. A leader does a disservice to the team, the organization and the “bad hire” by not taking immediate action.
Nathan Jamail is president of the Jamail Development Group and author of “The Sales Leaders Playbook.” He is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach.