These common mistakes lead to bad hires

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Is hiring keeping you up at night? Well, you are not the only one. Like most startup and SME managers, hiring is just one of your multiple hats. This is not your expertise. You probably never received proper training on how to interview, let alone on how to identify and attract A players for your teams.

Hiring is a daunting task for all and when it is not your core role, the pressure may result in hiring the wrong person. That’s when the nightmare begins.

The costs of a bad hire can be devastating. It’s not just the wasted time, money, and energy, but a bad hire can have a demoralizing effect on both your current team members and the new employee when you eventually have to let them go.

Bad hire = bad fire almost every time.

The common mistakes you need to be aware of

Hiring from the gut

Using your gut instinct increases your chances of hiring a candidate based on an unconscious and biased assessment. We are all biased due to past experiences. Do not base your hiring decision on whether you like the candidates and feel comfortable with them.

Be objective. Do not let your first impression make the decision. Use facts and search for evidence that the candidate you are hiring is the perfect fit.

3 steps for better objectivity in your interview process:

• Be aware and conscious of your own biases in order to counter and correct them in your assessment.
• Use behavioral and hypothetical questions, which are proven techniques to accurately determine the future performance or success of a candidate.
• Wait until the end of the interview to make a decision based on concrete facts. Do not jump the gun—the interview helps you collect data. The decision needs to take place after the interview when you review your notes and write your feedback.

Opportunistic hiring

For fear of losing A players, it may be tempting to hire on the spot even if you do not have a specific role in mind.

No matter how brilliant a candidate is if you do not have a suitable role for him or her, do not hire them. If you do, it will force you to change your plans and will lead you to set wrong expectations and directions for your team and potentially decrease overall motivation and morale.

Only hire for open roles. You need to hire the right people to implement your business strategy and not adapt your business plans to fit the candidate. So evaluate your business strategy and recruitment plans, and, unless there is a strong case to hire a certain candidate, stay in touch and keep them warm for the future.