When I ask business leaders: which of the following is your most common do-over
a. Machine purchase
b. New hire
c. Pricing decision
They usually say “b. new hire”.
Why do you think that is?
When people make a machine purchase, they take time researching the choices, checking with their team about the requirements, assessing how the new machine fits in with the rest of their equipment, asking other machine users if they are satisfied. All of this occurs before they move forward with the decision.
When they make an important pricing decision, they also do all of the above.
So what happens when we go to hire someone? It becomes all soft and fuzzy.
There are some best practices for hiring that have been developed by trial and error.
Ask yourself:
Do you have clear outcomes you expect from the successful candidate?
Do you ask specific questions when you check referrals and past employers?
What kinds of problems do you want them to solve and what kind of problems have they solved in the past?
What speed or energy level do you need for the job?
What is the company culture?
How would they have to work to fit in, or are you looking for a change agent to shake things up?
You may have heard these sayings:
Hire slow and fire fast.
People hire for skills and fire for fit.
Which do you do?
We will talk more about that next week.
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