The Top Ten Hiring Mistakes Managers Make

Would you hire either or both for a job in your company?

For an employee to be happy at work he or she must possess the skills and behavioral style necessary to do the job.  There is a tendency among managers to either hire people like themselves to do the job or to hire someone who fits their mental model of the ideal candidate.  Either contributes to unconscious bias on the part of the manager.  Here is a list of some other hiring mistakes that professionals frequently make:

1. No job description – By writing down in detail the tasks that this employee will be required to do the hiring manager will be able to see clearly the qualifications (skills and behavioral style) a person will need to do this job.
2. Hiring someone without the necessary skills – It will be clear from the job description what skills are necessary for the job.  Testing the candidate to be sure that his or her skills are current is also important.  The testing might be in the form of a written test or it could be an interview with someone who knows and uses the skill or skills in his/her own work.
3. Hiring someone without having the person take a behavioral assessment – The DISC behavioral assessment* will help you see if this person will fit into the office and compliment the skills of the other people.  It will also help you to communicate with the person in a way that that person will hear.  Most managers tend to hire people like themselves when in fact they may need someone who can do some of the things that the manager doesn’t like or want to do.
4. Hiring someone whose behavioral style is wrong for the job – Some positions require people who are talkative and friendly and others require people who enjoy working by themselves.  Certain tasks require a detail-oriented person while others need someone who sees the big picture.  Knowing the behavioral style that is best for the particular position will help the manager find the right person.
5. Hiring friends and/or relatives – Often people hire friends or relatives to be kind or to do a favor for someone.  If the decision turns out to be a bad one, the situation can get really uncomfortable.  It is often difficult to give feedback to friends or relatives and they often resent being put in a position where they have to be grateful for the opportunity but are really angry with you for the criticism.
6. Not interviewing the candidate – To really get to know if you can work with someone you need to speak with him/her directly either face to face or by phone.  For your team to work well give those who will be working with the candidate a chance to interview the candidate and voice their opinion.
7. Not preparing for the interview– It is important to spend time preparing a set of probing questions for the candidates to help you to determine which candidate most closely fits your job description.
8. Not posting the job, advertising it in the paper and/or using a recruiter so that you get multiple candidates giving you a choice – Some are tempted to hire the first applicant.  If you advertise for candidates in multiple ways and use a recruiter too, you should have a variety of candidates to interview and select from.
9. Not screening the candidates so you interview everyone – Screening all the candidates could take a long time if you get a lot of interest in the open position.  Once you have a group of candidates it is easiest to have screening interviews to weed out those who are definitely inappropriate.  Often screening interviews are done by phone but also could be done in writing.
10. Not checking references and background. – It is tempting once you have settled on a candidate to hire him/her on the spot.  It is worth taking the time to check references and background to be sure that this candidate has honestly presented him/herself.

*Learn about the Behavioral Assessment

Have you ever taken the DISC behavioral assessment?  If you are hiring people it is a really important tool for hiring the right person.  If you have taken the DISC yourself you will be able to tell which candidates you will have difficulty managing from a behavioral perspective.  Through the one hour coaching that comes with the assessment you will learn how to manage the person you are hiring.  Wouldn’t it be great to know you could hire the right person for the job and be able to manage him/her because you are prepared based on your behavioral assessment and the candidate’s.  During the coaching session you will become familiar with the terminology as well as gain an understanding of your own behavioral profile.  Taking the assessment is an important investment for managers and employees.  Managers will learn how to talk to their employees based on the style they exhibit and employees will be prepared to show how their style is exactly right for the job they interview for.