How To Prevent 50% Of All Hiring Mistakes

How to Prevent 50% of All Hiring Mistakes

Lou Adler
aka the Original Headhunter and Author: Hire With Your Head and The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired
How to Prevent 50% of AllHiring Mistakes
October 31, 2012
Hiring is too important to leave to chance. Here’s the problem: if you like someone when you first meet, you maximize their positives and minimize their negatives. Ifyou don’t like someone, you maximize their weaknesses, and minimize their positives.
While team skills are essential (and everything else job-related), it's not possible to measure these while underthe spell of first impressions.
If you can get past the first 30 minutes you can actually make an objective assessment. This is harder than it sounds, but here are some ideas that might help you:How to Minimize Perception-driven Hiring Mistakes
1) Wait 30 minutes. Hear all of the evidence, pro and con, before making any decision. In the case of interviewing, wait for at least 30 minutesafter the interview starts before concluding if the person is a possible hire or not.
2) Divide and conquer. Don’t give anyone on the hiring team a full yes or no vote. I use a talent scorecard (a copyis in my new book) listing all of the competencies and factors driving on the job success to make the assessment. I suggest that each interviewer be given only a few of these to “own.” During a formaldebriefing session each interviewer is then required to substantiate his/her ranking on just these factors with evidence. This way the whole team makes the assessment, neutralizing the impact ofbiased assessments.
3) Be more cynical with people you like. When you like a candidate you naturally go into sales mode, ask softball questions, and ignore or minimize negatives. To overcome thisnatural tendency, force yourself to ask tougher questions, digging deep into the person’s accomplishments that most directly relate to your job opening.
4) Treat people you don’t like as consultants....