5 biggest hiring mistakes made by managers

Ask almost anyone who's in business what is their biggest problem and the answer will undoubtedly be the same: Staff.

A reliable, honest, hard working employee will be a pleasure to work with. They are hard to find and are a true treasure when discovered. Workplace culture gets ruined for these treasures when a poor hire is made.

The five biggest hiring mistakes made by managers causes deep problems in the organization, including losing good employees, loss of productivity, eroding profit margins and destroying corporate culture. A good business starts with the right hire. Most agree that business is great when employees do what they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to do it, and how they are supposed to do it. .

Michael Gerber wrote in E-Myth Revisited that people don't fail, systems fail. The lack of defined systems creates an environment where employees cannot find success. I believe the hiring practices can be systemized just as easily to avoid the following mistakes.

First mistake
Most managers want a job done, so they describe the position in their advertising. They don't take the time to describe the person they want to hire. Describing competencies and experience is not describing the person.. What is the essence of the person you're looking for? In one advertisement, I described the new hire as a person who never used an alarm clock but always woke up before 7am. We were looking for someone who liked to sing in the shower and didn't care if the neighbors could hear them bellow the newest song by Justin Bieber because in the shower, it sounded like a live performance in front of 25,000 fans. I didn't get as many applicants but I didn't have to do 100 interviews either. The people that applied to the ad were the type of people I wanted to talk to.

Second mistake
Managers fail to plan for a new hire. I liked having someone in the "bullpen". In baseball, the bullpen is comprised of relief pitchers who can come in at a moment's notice if the current pitcher is starting to fail. My bullpen had people who wanted to work for me but were willing to wait for an opportunity. If a current employee would quit without notice, I had a replacement ready to go. Even if I didn't have a staffing need, we were constantly looking for new staff as a strategy to prevent dis-serving the customer.

Third mistake
The interview is not a well thought out systemized process. Most managers hire based on gut instinct. They will ask a series of questions regarding strengths, weaknesses, experience and background. Then based on those answers, they make a gut check and decide if the employee is right for the team. In more sophisticated hiring practices, hiring managers get the candidate to answer a series of tests to see competencies and if there is a fit emotionally with the team. Without the budget to put all the candidates through the testing, we identified the qualities we wanted in a perfect hire and then formulated questions to see if the candidate matched what we were looking for.

Question. "What kind of animal would you be in the jungle". Then followup with "Why".
Reason: To see someone think on their feet. To make a decision quickly without hesitation.

Question: "What kind of toy would you play with if you were a puppy"
Reason: Again, a second example of someone thinking on their feet. If they were stressed or nervous, or their body language became closed, I would end the interview.

Question: "Give me an example when you got upset at work"
Reason: To test facial expressions and body language. Does this person relive old stuff and has a hard time letting go of a past problem.

Question: "Has a manager ever asked you to do something that you thought was wrong" and "what did you do to correct the manager"
 Reason: To see if this person is a disrupter or a vault? Does this person have enough confidence to express their opinions or do they have too much confidence bordering on arrogance.

Fourth mistake
Managers don't follow up on references or they rely on the wrong ones. Most candidates will only post positive references on the resume. Calling one of those references, a manager should expect a decent review. In the interview, a smart hiring manager will try to connect the dots of people they know in common. LinkedIn is an excellent resource today for seeing the commonalities. Sometimes a current employee will have worked with the candidate. Getting an accurate picture of work ethic and job competencies can come from the people already working in the organization. The only relevant question in the reference check is "If that person came back looking for a job, would you hire them again?".

Fifth mistake
Managers don't plan for training. In every job I ever had, I was thrown in and expected to learn the jobs on my own. It was sink or swim. In many businesses, the same exists. Managers are already busy. They have enough on their plates so taking the time to train a new hire is painful. To avoid this mistake develop a training program that gets shared on the first day of the new hire. They will know exactly what will happen over the following weeks. Give homework every evening, with a verbal and written test the next day. The employees that don't study the first night are usually poor hires. The ones who want to work with you will memorize the small homework and will ALWAYS be great employees, based on my experience. If a poor candidate gets through the first four obstacle courses without detection, the fifth obstacle will catch them on the second day. Don't waste any time and training money on the new hires who don't do their homework. Give the candidate one final chance to prove their worth the following day. If they are not serious about the job you've offered them, they will quit and you will be better for it immediately.

Too many hiring managers rely on "warm body" syndrome. There is a need in the business so we hire the first person who looks and acts reasonably well so life can get back to normal. It's usually better not to hire at all than to hire a warm body. In a shrinking labour market, it can be difficult to find the right person. No one's beating down your door to work for you. I get it. But a business is built one employee at a time. Find the right employee and then go find more of them one at a time.