Not Another Bad Hire

by Richard P. Dacri

“I can’t believe it. I did it again.” That’s how the call began from a frantic manager. “She seemed like a great fit. She said all the right things and my friend said that she thought she’d fit in well. What did I do wrong this time?”

The manager of a small manufacturing company made another bad hire. What happened? Sally needed a good administrative assistant and she needed one fast. She received a referral from a temp agency and brought the candidate in on a temporary basis. After two days of casual observation of the candidate’s work, Sally was sure she was the one. What made it even better, Sally’s friend knew and liked the candidate. So what went wrong?

After a careful review of what had happened, a number of critical errors were uncovered. To begin, Sally never interviewed the candidate. She assumed the agency had fully screened her--so she never knew what the candidate could do or not do. Secondly, there were no reference checks done. Here again, Sally depended on the agency. But what about the friend? Didn’t she say she liked her? Yes she did. The friend thought she was a nice person, but the friend had no idea what the requirements of the job were, nor had she ever assessed the skills of the candidate. She simply knew her as a nice person.

But, shouldn’t the two days that Sally observed the candidate be the real test? Yes. If done well, direct observation of one’s work should be an excellent barometer. Unfortunately, in this case, Sally “fell in love” with the candidates willingness to help out without ever evaluating the real skills and ability to do the job Sally hired her to do.

So what should have Sally done? In this case, there are six steps that should have been followed:

1. Make sure you know what you are looking for in a position. An up-to-date job description is ideal, along with a candidate profile. Profiles are a qualitative description of your ideal candidate. They go beyond describing skills, education and experience. Profiles include traits and attributes. And if you are going to use an outside agency to help you with the hiring process, you must share your description and profiles with them.

2. Thoroughly interview candidates using a behavioral interviewing style. In a behavioral style, you ask the candidate experiential questions such as “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer. What happened and how did you handle it?” Since past behavior is an excellent predictor of future behavior, you will have a better idea of the candidate than if you simply asked, “can you handle a difficult customer!”

3. Have more than one person interview the candidate. Different people see different things and since most individuals must interact with different people in the organization after they are hired, it’s good to find out before you make a hire decision whether they will get along with others.

4. Conduct thorough professional reference checks and probe, probe, probe. Check with past supervisors, peers, and subordinates. Get a complete picture of the candidate. Finally, reference checks should validate your impression of the candidate, not affirm what you want to hear.

5. Depending on the position, you may want to test the candidate. Skill testing is an excellent way to determine if they really can perform the job. In addition, you may want to include a preplacement physical and a drug screen.

6. Finally, if you are going to use an employment or temporary agency, make them a partner in your recruitment process. Provide them with a description of your needs. Clarify what role you want them to perform and what you are going to do. Sally never fully included the agency in the process nor outlined her expectations of them.

Making a good hire decision is not an easy nor a quick process. It takes time, planning and patience--but by making this investment up front, you can avoid these after the fact panic phone calls.

Rick Dacri is an organizational development consultant, coach and featured speaker at regional and national conferences. Since 1995 his firm, Dacri & Associates has focused on improving the performance of individuals and organizations. Rick can be reached at 1-800-892-9828, or rick@dacri.com