7 Hiring Questions Every Leader Should Ask

Quick stories from hiring I was NOT involved in...

"He didn't act like this in the interviews," my Client complained.  Oops...  He had hired "Dr. Jekyll" and got "Mr. Hyde."  

Another Client hired a tech in another state without meeting him in-person.  Weeks later he called the tech to say he and a sales rep would be in the area.  Could they stop by and meet?  "You better not come by my house.  I'll call the cops.  You have no right to come anywhere near here.  You better not..."  Oops...

The candidate was stellar during interviews.  My Client warned he would run a background check on him.  Is there anything the candidate wanted to alert him to that might come back in the report?  "No.  Nothing."  The report came back that he was a sexual predator, had done jail time, had a DUI, and more.  Oops...  Thank God for our background check company!

Here are 7 questions every leader should ask about how you hire people, that surprisingly very few people do ask:

#1  Quality of Hire:  What type of people do we want to hire?

Most leaders have not defined a standard for the quality of people they are willing to hire.  Do they want only top performers, good people, average folks, or just anyone who can fill a seat to join their company?  The result is they overlook warning signs of weak performance during the hiring process, and reap the pains later.

#2  Systematic Power:  Do we have a clearly defined hiring system, and are we following it every time?

Most leaders have a sketchy hiring process at best, and rely on gut feelings to hire people.  Too often the hiring process is rushed, and then you tend to miss warning signs that someone is not a cultural fit or lacks critical technical or soft skills.

#3  Strategic Plan:  Have we fully and clearly defined the job?

Most leaders explain a job rather than provide a full written definition.  One of our most popular LEADERSHIP Essentials Service is helping Clients develop employee strategic plans for each person's success.  These also give you an edge in the hiring process when superstars are considering other offers.

See a sample here.  Let me know if you want to discuss how it works.

#4  Promoting Opportunities:  How do we promote our jobs so we are attracting people who are not looking in addition to qualified candidates?

Most companies can improve their job promotion activities.  Always have open jobs on your website.  Promote on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media sites.  Do you have a system to consider and properly manage interns or recent college graduates?  Do you have a network of 50 or more people you can easily contact to communicate new openings?  There is more...

#5  Talent Assessments:  Do we have a way to confirm the candidate's core work behaviors and values/motivators?

Anyone can hire a person, but shrewd leaders use tools to clearly confirm whether a candidate is a match for the position, get job candidates talking outside of their "first date" script, and test their skills.  

Bill Bonnstetter has said, "If a job could talk, it would explain precisely what was necessary for it to achieve superior performance."  The problem is jobs do not talk, so we have to do our due diligence.

If you have never tried our Talent Assessments, which most of our active Clients use before they hire anyone, then email me.  I will let you experience one for free if you contact me by October 30, 2014.

#6  Background Check:  Do we complete a background check on every person before they start working for us?

This is cheap insurance.  NEVER hire anyone without a background check.  I have lost $1.5 million on a hiring mistake that could have been avoided with a simple $125 background check.  Only check people you are hiring, not all job candidates.

If you want a great online background check partner, email me.  I will send you the company we use.

#7  No Emotion:  Is our employee turnover too high because we are hiring the wrong people?

I have a growing number of Clients who hire me to interview their top candidates before they finalize their interview process.

I give their top candidates our full Talent Assessment plus Summary, interview the candidate, and then tell the Client whether I would hire them, interview them more, or NOT hire them.

Why go to this expense ($499 for one;  $399 for a bundle of five)?  Because I am not trying to fill a seat and have no emotion in the hiring process, I often catch behaviors and motivators of job candidates they miss.  Every time my advice protects them from a bad hire, they save at least $10,000 if not the first year's compensation for the position.

You can order this service on our Talent Assessment page (please use Chrome or Firefox to order - we are having problems with IE).

Ask yourself these questions.  Congratulations if your answers are good!  But are you and your people consistently living it out?  (I hope so!)

Don't wait.  Take Sanctuary time this weekend to answer these 7 questions and act upon your answers.  You will be glad you did.