Posted by Kathleen Ranahan on March 23, 2015.

The renowned business guru, Peter Drucker, estimated that two-thirds of employee hiring decisions may actually be hiring mistakes!  If you have had the experience of hiring, I’m sure you can relate.  Business owners and hiring managers tell me they sometimes hire the right person and sometimes they don’t.  In fact, many of my clients say they have about a 50/50 chance of making the right hiring decision.  The problem is there is typically not a consistent approach to hiring.  Therefore, the results are not predictable.

In order to achieve better outcomes and reduce the risks of a bad hire, I suggest you must have the building blocks and proven processes to improve hiring outcomes.  It’s been said that companies should hire slow and fire fast.  That simply means we need to take the time and follow steps that will help you uncover and discover information that is pertinent to learning more about a potential employee.

Using due diligence for hiring means taking a look below the surface of resumes and interviews that are usually conducted by inexperienced interviewers.  It is now common practice to conduct background checks.  Pre-screen hiring tools that measure work ethic, integrity, and reliability are critical since many of these performance issues will only be found once an individual is hired.  Many companies overlook the basis of a great hire and that is having the core competencies to do the job!  There are tools that will measure cognitive abilities, behavioral traits and occupational interest that will determine job fit. I encourage you to consider these building blocks to improve your outcomes.