The quest for the right hire remains a daunting challenge for employers worldwide. A staggering 74% of employers acknowledge making erroneous hiring decisions, as highlighted by a CareerBuilder survey. The financial repercussions are significant, with each hiring mistake costing employers an average of $14,900 last year. Beyond monetary losses, a bad hire can disrupt workplace harmony, diminish productivity, and adversely affect team morale.
The Problem
Many hiring hiccups happen because employers use the wrong yardstick to measure candidates. They often judge a candidate’s ability to land the job as a sign of their potential success in it. This judgment relies on a checklist of skills, education, and experience, ignoring crucial things like whether the person’s background matches the opportunity presented, whether they fit in with the company’s culture and whether they’ll stay for the long haul.
Instead of focusing on what matters for success and longevity, like how well a person fits in and their ability to adapt, employers often get hung up on surface-level stuff like hard skills. This means they might pick someone who dazzles in an interview but ends up flopping on the job because they only fulfill half of what’s needed to succeed.
The truth is, that success in a job is a mix of having the right skills and fitting into the company’s culture and management style. For instance, not all sales experiences are created equal. Someone might look perfect on paper but struggle in your sales team because they don’t flourish in that type of environment.
The Fix
Instead of choosing unrealistic “perfect” candidates with the best first impression or resume, employers should take a more practical approach. They need to focus on proven job performance and retention rates. This means shifting gears to value concrete evidence of a candidate’s ability to excel and remain in a role.
The new hiring strategy centers on two key factors: how well someone does the job and how long they stay. By comparing candidates to the company’s best employees, employers can pinpoint the skills, experiences, and personality traits that truly make a difference in their organization. This way, they’re not chasing an imaginary ideal candidate; they’re replicating success by hiring people similar to their top performers.
To get the best people for the job, businesses need to look at two things: the hard “Can Do” (skills, experience, and education) and the soft “Will Do” (personality, motivation, and culture fit). By matching these “hard” and “soft” requirements, companies can find the perfect fit, not just on paper but in terms of loyalty and how well they perform. To figure out these requirements, it’s beneficial to start with a study of the company’s current top and bottom performers. That way, you’re using real data instead of just guessing what the perfect candidate looks like.
This is where tools like Self Management Group’s Predictor of Potential (POP™) come in handy. By using the POP™ to analyze your top performers, you can build a solid profile of what makes a star employee. Then, you can quickly send candidates the same assessment to see how they stack up against your ideal profile, giving you a good sense of their potential fit.
The POP™ goes beyond typical hiring criteria, giving you a deeper look into a candidate’s chances of success and loyalty. By matching candidate profiles with your internal benchmarks, you can make smarter, more data-driven hiring choices.
Conclusion
In the intricate dance of talent acquisition, distinguishing qualified hires from the sea of candidates is paramount. By redefining hiring criteria to prioritize job performance and retention, and through leveraging advanced assessment tools like the POP™, employers can enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of their hiring process. This strategic realignment not only mitigates the financial and operational risks associated with hiring errors but also cultivates a more engaged, loyal, and productive workforce. In the end, the goal is not just to fill a position but to enrich the organization with talent that resonates with its core values and long-term vision.