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​After more than a decade of hiring people on a daily basis I’ve seen a thing or two when it comes to good vs. bad practices relating to the process of hiring employees.  During that time I’ve also made my fair share of mistakes in the people I’ve hired which offered up a plethora of learning opportunities.  What I've learned over the years is that making a hiring mistake can be costly and most of the time it is the employers fault the hire doesn’t work out, not the new hire themselves.

Hiring an employee is an interesting and vital part of business.  Interesting in that the end result is bringing on a new person into your company with the idea that they will fulfill a role to help the company move forward.  Vital, because hiring really is one of the most important activities a business can do outside of generating revenue.  Without revenue streaming in there is no need for hiring and no company for that matter, which is why I’ve placed generating revenue a tier above hiring.

The act of hiring is often whimsical and mythical in nature, like a unicorn.  Everyone loves to say they’re great at interviewing as they enjoy saying “I know how to pick em”, or “I’m able to sniff out the best from the worst in five minutes”.  I always enjoy a good chuckle when I hear comments like this because the reality is that these words often stand on hollow ground.  While we love to think we’re great at the process of identifying, vetting and selecting the best people the facts tell a different story:

1. HBR did a study that found 80% of turnover is due to poor hiring decisions
2. More than 70% of companies don’t have a specific process they follow to ensure their hiring process is streamlined and effective

With stats like this you’d think companies would focus more on their hiring process and approach to improve this area of the business similarly to how they spend endless amounts of time and money on activities like kaizen events and lean initiatives in order to improve yields by a couple percentage points. 

In the end the numbers don’t lie as they tell us a sobering story – no one is perfect when it comes to hiring employees.  However the quicker we build awareness around our actual performance in the area of hiring the quicker we can begin to improve it. 
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Below are the ten (10) most common hiring mistakes made in business.  As you read through these make a note of how frequent an offender you or your company is with each:

1. Candidates are not respected going through the interview process (this happens all the time and is one of the quickest ways to lose a great candidate; disrespect comes in the form of wasting people’s time, not getting back to people, treating them poorly during the onsite interview, etc.)
2. Hiring managers have unrealistic expectations and make hiring decisions based on being able to perform immediately rather than long term success
3. Hiring managers don’t know what they’re looking for in a candidate so they interview dozens of people hoping to figure it out along the way (this often times is an unspoken action as few people will openly admit to their peers they don’t know what they’re doing)
4. The job description used to search and vet candidates isn’t the same as the real job responsibilities
5. Interviewing is based around job tasks, not the expected performance results
6. The interview process is overly complex and lengthy (it goes on for months on end with weeks of down time in between interviews or discussions, or it involves several interviews with dozens of people)
7. The interview process fails to connect what the company’s story and mission is with a candidates career motivations are (when this happens companies are hiring people to fill a job, not a career)
8. The company’s sole source for hiring is technology (hint – only about 11% of people find their job on the internet so if your strategy is to solely to use technology – job boards, social media - you’re missing out on 89% of the rest of the workforce)
9. The company is reactive, not proactive, in hiring and building out a candidate pool
10. They have entire teams or departments involved the hiring decision (often times those people aren’t trained on how to interview and don’t understand the true needs of the job)

 
Key Take Away:
The current job market is one of the most competitive hiring landscapes we’ve ever seen.  Most of the people in the US workforce have never seen unemployment figures like we’re experiencing today.  Orange County, CA unemployment rate in September 2019 was a staggering 2.9%.  Meaning, 97.1% of people who are eligible and or able to work are in fact doing so.  The numbers nationally don’t get much better, or in favor of the employer, as we’re experiencing 3.5% unemployment nationally.  The last time the unemployment rate was this low was in 1969.  What does this all mean – it’s a candidates market, not an employers market.
 
Most, if not all, the good people and therefore candidates are gainfully employed.  If you want to improve your chances of landing great employees to help grow your company you need to ensure your hiring practices are addressing and or solving the 10 hiring issues mentioned above.
 
Action Item:
If you or your company struggle to hire great people one of the best things you can do to correct it is to seek advice and an alternate viewpoint.  Ask your employees why they were for your company, learn what matters to them most and why they stick around.  Another way to gain insight is to bring in an HR or recruiting consultant to review your current processes.  Outsiders can often times see things quicker and easier than you can as they aren’t coming from a lens that is within the company.  Their outsider perspective can provide unbiased feedback on the things you need to do to attract better talent.

‘It’ can be an exhilarating experience causing you to forget about the present time or one where you’re looking for the exit door in a panic as every minute passes by.  You may think to yourself ‘where has this person been all my life’ or ‘as soon as I can end this politely we both know we’ll never talk again.’  You’re pitting out your button up shirt, not because it’s hot, because you’re nervous and trying to make a good impression.  You’ve got butterflies in your stomach, but are those butterflies of excitement or butterflies leading to vomit?
Which experience am I describing here, a first date or a job interview?
What if I told you I was describing both, a first date AND a job interview!
We don’t often associate first dates and job interviews as one in the same however the more we look into each experience and how we act during them we come to find that both of these human interactions are eerily similar.
How does knowing this information help me with dating and interviewing?  Read on to find out…
Let’s take a look at why first dates and job interviews share so much in common.
- First Impressions:
This is the holy grail of decision making when it comes to whether or not we like someone initially.  Failure to have a good first impression will more often than not result in a second interaction never making the calendar.  Psychologists call it "thin slicing."  Within moments of meeting someone, we’re deciding and making assumptions on all sorts of things about the other person, from status, intelligence, career success and even promiscuity.  This can be as quick as 7 seconds!  What that means is that everyone is trying to put their best foot forward, which can make things tricky because often times both parties are wondering if the person they’re talking too is the ‘real’ John Doe or the in-character John Doe.
- Chemistry:
You know it when it exists.  Things just seem easy.  You laugh more, you tend to lean in closer to the other person more often and you even overlook potential red flags because your gut is already invested in the other person long before your brain has had a chance to catch up.  On the other hand, when chemistry is lacking you feel like you’re on a date with your sister.  It’s awkward and feel it from your fingers to your toes. 
- Communication:
Communication is much more than just verbal, it also includes nonverbal cues like the unspoken word and body language.  Ever been in an interview and eye contact communicated more in 4 seconds what a 10 minute conversation could accomplish?  I’ve been there and it’s a powerful experience.  When our verbal communication is locked in sync it can feel like we’ve been friends for years.  When communication struggles it feels like pulling teeth to have an average conversation.  Both people may be speaking English but it seems as if one person is speaking Russian while the other is a Mandarin linguist.  We become bewildered and confused, not exactly a great start towards building a solid relationship.
- Commonalities:
“Wow, went to USC as well.  Fight On!”  “You’re from Handsome Eddy, New York also?  What a small world.” Finding common ground during a first date or a job interview can immediately disarm both parties allowing more casual conversation to occur.  Bonding takes place over the things we find out we have in common such as our love for golf, knitting that fabulous turtle neck sweater for the holidays or volunteering for a similar cause.  It doesn’t really matter what it is so long as we have something in common.  Most of us don’t realize that when we’re in the moment what we’re looking for is something we already know and like – ourselves.  When we struggle to find something in common it has a direct negative impact to that chemistry we’re trying to build on.


- Perception vs. Reality
As the date and or job interview continues we inevitably begin to ask question to get to know the person in hopes of better understanding them and what they bring to the table.  Many times what happens during these exchanges is that we get a glimpse into a person that isn’t very real at all.  I don’t believe people do this on purpose, at least most people, however the fact of the matter is in a first date and job interview we are doing our darndest to put our best foot forward.  As a result people can often times misrepresent themselves for who they are and what they’re all about.  This is similar to the honeymoon stage where only after a period of time we’ll be able to know if the person today is the same tomorrow.
- Emotion
Love at first sight!  Let’s face it, emotion is a part of every first date and job interview, but it can also help us or hurt us in our decisions.  Help us in that if we become emotionally invested in the other person it allows us to overlook small red flags that otherwise might get in the way of us making a decision that could be good for both parties.  Emotions can also hurt us because if we experience something which causes our ego or pride to be damaged we then make decisions that aren’t in the best interest of the interview or date but in protecting ourselves.
- The Angle
“What’s he really all about?”  This is a very logical and typical thought for people to think during a job interview or first date.  It signals that we’re trying to look behind the veil and see if we can uncover anything that isn’t necessarily being presented upfront.  In the dating world ‘the angle’ often can be described as the feeling that the person is just hoping to go home with you for a nightcap to your first date.  Job interviews can have the same outcome.  Candidates are angling to get a job, sometimes presenting themselves in a light which makes them appear more qualified than they really are.  Employers also do the same by up-selling the career opportunity to entice candidates to consider the role even though the actual work might not be nearly as glamorous as how it was made out to be.
What does all of this mean?
It means that people by their very nature go about experiences, such as first dates and interviewing for jobs, in a fairly predictable way.  While the outcome might be out of our control, the way we go into the experience and how we handle ourselves during the experience greatly influences the outcome.  Knowing this information, that first dates and job interviews are similar, can help you go through each experience with a broader perspective allowing you to make better decisions for yourself and potential career or company.
Next time you find yourself on a first date or job interview remember that these human experiences are designed to see if it is worth it or not to have a second go around.  The best approach is to just be yourself, as a result you’ll find that your interactions with others are far more valuable to you and the person on the other side of the table.