How To Hire The Wrong Person

How To Hire The Wrong Person

By

Eric Twiggs

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant" Jim Collins

Imagine that you were opening a new location.  You would be closing your current shop and staffing the new building with “A” players in each role who are great at fixing cars, answering the phone, and selling service.

This “dream team” would be so good, you could leave the country for two weeks, and return to a better business than when you left.  Profit wouldn’t depend on your presence.   

Now, let’s get back to reality and look at your current staff.  Knowing what you now know, who from your crew would you rehire for the dream team?   Would everyone make the cut?

When I ran shops, I was an expert in the art of hiring the wrong person!  Don’t laugh, because if you wouldn’t rehire 50% or more of your existing team, you have the same expertise!

I believe in the importance of knowing what NOT to do, so today you’ll learn the following two steps to hiring the wrong person:

Ignore The Red Flags

A red flag is a warning signal indicating you are about to make a bad hire.  The most common red flag is “the job hopper.”

This is the candidate who has worked for five companies in five years and has something negative to say about each organization.  If you hire him, you will be the sixth shop he hops from.

When referring to a mutual fund, the popular saying is “past performance is not an indicator of future results.”  Unlike mutual funds, the candidate’s past is the best predictor of what they will do when they work for you.    

Recruit Out Of Desperation

The ideal time to look for great people is when you’re fully staffed.   If you start looking after losing a key person, you’ll be more focused on filling the void than making a great hire. When you’re desperate, the temptation will be to hire someone without checking their references, which will cause you to miss out on as much as 25% of what you need to know about them.

The “A” players aren’t surfing CareerBuilder and Craigslist. They’re busy doing a great job where they are.   A recent Linked IN study concluded that the majority of successful companies used referrals from their network to find people.  45% of the surveyed businesses relied on networking compared to 30% relying on job postings, 15% on resume searches and 10% making internal moves.   

If you search when you’re already staffed, you won’t feel  pressured, which will make it easier to follow up with references, and network with your current "A" players, vendors, and BNI members.  

Summary

So there you have it.  If you ignore the red flags and recruit out of desperation, you too can hire the wrong person! 

Sincerely,

Eric Twiggs

www.autotraining.net

PS.  I have created a set of  phone interview screening questions that will increase your chances of hiring an" A" player, and allow you to screen out candidates that will waste your time.  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net if you would like a copy.