Top 4 Myths that Lead to Company Hiring Mistakes

Myth #1: Recruitment can be delegated

Q. Why would someone want to work for your company?

• Initial screening interviews can be done by HR and executive recruiters
• Nothing is more important in your organization than hiring top talent
• Great leaders and managers must be able to hire great people
• 10,000 people in this country celebrate their 65th birthday everyday
• As Baby Boomers retire, there will be a large vacuum create manpower shortages of 5-6 million unfilled jobs (3 times worse that pre Y2K!)
• The hiring landscape is about to become very competitive
• Recruiting is marketing—NOT selling

Myth #2: Internet job advertising works

Q. How have you typically found and hired your best employees?

• The #1 way is to encourage internal employee referrals
• The #2 way to hire the best people is to recruit employees using social media tools like LinkedIn…..not job posting sites
• Recruiters are a viable option for key hard-to-find specialists and key level management
• Bottom line: All managers, owners, leaders, VP’s, Presidents, & CEO’s need to constantly be on the prowl to hire top talent

Myth #3: Companies always select top talent

Hire Smart or Manage Tough

• Tomorrow’s success depends upon choosing the best future leaders today
• Hiring mistakes happen all the time…why does this happen?
• Good qualified candidates lack interview skills and unqualified candidates with refined interview skills often get the job because they present well and appear to fit the team
• Most managers make the mistake of hiring based on personality and fail to evaluate performance

Myth #4: Assessments are critical to hiring process

Past Performance is the Best Predictor of Future Performance

• Good hiring practices should rely on testing and previous job reference
• Assessments can evaluate benchmark aptitude and personality match—but, will not paint a complete candidate picture
• Good interviewing skills and background research will reveal more about the “whole person” and increase hiring accuracy better than the 50/50 flip of a coin
• Develop S.M.A.R.T objectives for the position and organizational role and gear your questions around discovering past comparable accomplishments with candidates
• Ask all candidates the same behavior performance-oriented questions
• Talk about real work—discuss problems and related business issues
• Listen four more times than you talk—the interview is not a casual conversation…it is a fact finding mission. Treat every candidate as a valued customer to elicit more comfortable responses. Reprogram yourself to remain objective and wait 30 minutes before making any decision on the candidate and then reassess your first impressions.

For more information on how to find, assess and hire top talent, click here!