Quick and Dirty Hiring Tips

One for the employers out there! The saying I live by, have taught hundreds of hiring managers on, and did I mention live by? is the following:

60% of hiring decisions are based on the soft skills and “fit” of an individual in the culture of the organization/team and 40% based on “skill”.

So to be great at making “great” hiring decisions takes a little bit of time to prepare.

Step 1: You have to define what your “ideal” person brings to the table. Don't use a laundry list of skills.

Those are easy and conventional wisdom has told you to do that before! I'm talking about what they bring... baggage and all! Values, ethics, passion, direction, mental toughness… GET THE PICTURE? You need to understand what the “ideal” candidate is before you can interview someone for the job. For example, make a scorecard. Put on there not only the old “job description” info, but also put down specifics on how they behave. Once you have that, you can ask very specific questions on past situations that either do or do not match to the predicted behaviors you want on your team.

Step 2: The values of the company must match the values of the individual you are interviewing.

If you want to create a vision, everyone needs to sing to the same sheet of music. If you deviate from the scorecard and do not interview for the values you are looking to match between candidate and company, you may end up hiring someone that does not fit. This can create issues in your group and you may even risk losing team members you find valuable all because you skipped steps and hired the wrong person with the mismatched values.

There is a butt for every seat, but not every butt fits the seat in your company!

DEFINE WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR COMPANY…WRITE IT DOWN! USE IT! RANK AGAINST IT! HIRE ONLY THOSE THAT SHOW PAST PERFORMANCE ON THE BEHAVIORS AND VALUES OF YOUR COMPANY!