Sins of Recruitment: How Not to Hire the Best Talent

by Brad Remillard, 11 June 2012

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topics:
Human Capital Management

tags:
job interview recruitment and retention talent management

I recently asked over 100 CEOs and their key executives: “Is hiring top talent critical to the success of your organization?” Not surprising everyone replied:“Yes, it is critical.” Not simply important, but critical.

So then I asked: “If it is critical, then how much time each month is spent focusing on hiring, excluding when you are actively looking to fill a position?” Only three people raised their hand.

Something that is critical to the success of the organization gets virtually zero time unless there is a current need. Is that the way most critical issues are handled in your company? No strategic planning? No thought or action discussed or taken until the problem arises? Only when the problem arises is it dealt with. Until then, it’s “Out of sight, out of mind” or “We will cross that bridge when we get there.”

Most other critical issues are regularly discussed. On-going programs such as cost reduction, product development, increasing sales or market share, customer service, improving operational efficiencies are all constantly discussed and are often major components of the company’s strategic plan.

I have seen many strategic plans that all have great plans for growth, yet few ever include a strategy for hiring the people needed to execute the plan as the company grows. Strategic hiring is rarely part of a strategic plan.

I believe companies that truly want to hire top talent and do it on a consistent basis must avoid these four major land mines when hiring.

Untrained Managers

This is hands down the number one reason why hiring fails. Few managers are actually properly trained how to hire. Most have never even attended one course or read a book on hiring. For the few that have had training, it is usually limited to interviewing training. Granted this is better than nothing, but interviewing is only one step in an effective hiring process.

If you aren’t finding qualified candidates, all the interviewing training will do is validate that they aren’t qualified. If the job isn’t properly defined, then you may be looking in the right place for the right candidates. You may then waste a lot of time interviewing unqualified candidates.

The fact is the vast majority of managers use the “Tribal Hiring Training” program. Too often a person learns to hire from the person that hired them. And the person that hired them learned from the person that hired them, and so it goes all the way back to Moses. All this really does is perpetuate hiring mistakes from one generation the next. It doesn’t resolve the problem.

If companies are serious about improving hiring, step one is to develop an effective hiring process and then training every manager in all aspects of the process.

Absolutely â€“ recruitment

Submitted by Faisal Azaid on 23 June 2012 - 10:03am

Absolutely â€“ recruitment should be seen as an ongoing process. Organizations must be primed for continual renewal, even if that's not the immediate issue at hand. Keeping an eye out for talent should become a habit. I like this anecdote, from a shoe store in Milan â€“ http://bit.ly/O7ceDV

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