A good interview is both an art and a skill. Most hiring leaders never develop both. The awful truth is that 50% of new hires don’t work out.
Why new hires don’t work. The number one reason, in my experience, is that they’re not a good “fit” for the culture. Now, when my clients label someone a bad fit, it always makes me nervous since that word can be used to limit the opportunities of employees who are different in some way: gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on. I’m talking, however, about something deeper than these superficial differences.
The real reason for hiring failures. The biggest problem in recruiting and retaining the best is that the leaders in the organization itself don’t really understand their own culture and values and therefore, can’t select employees who might be a great match. Hiring the best requires identifying what success means in the organization, studying which employees create the most success, and then selecting new employees who match that criteria. Unfortunately, this isn’t a superficial and easy process.
What Should You Do?
In the meantime, you need to fill vacancies. While you’re taking a deeper dive into what your culture is really about — what works and who succeeds — ask this question of potential hires:
What was your biggest accomplishment so far in your career?
Follow up with the details. Make sure that you dig down into the reasons they view that accomplishment as the best: why they liked the assignment, how they were managed, parts of the project that they liked or didn’t like, how they measured their own success on the project and so on. These details will contain a treasure trove of information about the potential hire, more than any other question you could ask.
Of course, follow all the other good hiring practices. You should, for example, ask all of your interviewees the same questions, following an interview script so that you don’t discriminate by asking some candidates inappropriate questions but not others.
For more information about good hiring and retention practices, read my articles on these important topics:
Do You Know What Hiring Technique Really Works?
Attracting and Keeping the Best Employees: What Really Works
Do You Know the Four Most Important Words to Retain Your Best People?
How to Keep the Ones You Love: The Number One Retention
Measuring and Tracking: Recruiting and Retention Success
What Do You Think?
What are the best hiring questions you’ve discovered? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
July 29, 2019
