By Dan Levine, Executive Recruiter at answerQUEST

It’s 2012, do you know where your career is?  When was the last time you lost sleep because you were actually excited to go to work the next day?  When was the last time you left your office feeling fulfilled and energized?  When was the last time you actually said, “I love what I do for a living”?  Up until 2012, my answer to all of these questions was NEVER!

I am a 33 year old dedicated father of two, who until this year believed my career was already mapped out for me.  When you’re in your thirties, you do not want to be looked at as a job hopper, so often we tend to settle for comfort (a nice boss, easy hours, decent money, no stress, etc.).  At this age people believe that it’s too late to begin a new career, because now they’re competing with people younger and willing to work for less money.  That could not be further from the truth. 

It is never too late to start your day, your week, your month or even your year over.  It’s all about your attitude and pure will to want to make a change in your life.  Change is never easy, especially when your family looks for you to support them.  But how can you be your best at home if you are unhappy at work?  You must ask yourself each morning if you are going to a job or are you doing something today that furthers your career. 

Remember this….Where you are today is exactly where you should be, because everything you have done up to this point has placed you in this position.     

If you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning because you are dreading the day, make a change. 

If you believe you are at the height of your career and cannot go further, make a change.

If no matter what you accomplish today you will be in the same position tomorrow, make a change.

My name is Dan Levine, executive recruiter for answerQUEST. I’m excited for tomorrow, I feel fulfilled and I LOVE WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING.  If you can’t say that, make a change.

An “A” player is someone who is in the top 10% of talent available for the job – “available” meaning at a certain comp level, in that location, in that industry and willing to accept the job offer. B players are in the next 25%, and C players are in the bottom 65% as defined by Brad Smart, author of Topgrading.

Characteristics that define “A” Level Talent:

• An “A” Level player is focused on finding a career, not a job.
• An “A” player will only be hired by a strong hiring manager. What is the track record for the official doing the hiring?
• Recruiters hiring “A” players should have done so in the past. Has the recruiter worked with others in your industry successfully? Do they find those passive candidates that are truly the “A” players and may not be looking?
• “A” Level players gather information and knowledge on a company differently than others. They select one job over another by tapping an information exchange process that allows for gathering necessary information.
• A final step before a job offer is asking candidates to arrange personal reference calls with former bosses.
• Former bosses endorse “A” players. When asked to arrange reference calls with past bosses, the “A” player is eager to provide those references.
• “A” players fit the “culture” of the firm. They share common values and make decisions based on what is best for the company.

by Paul Silitsky, CEO

We have all been there, hiring the wrong person for that critical opening.

Finding and keeping great team members is the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs and corporate managers. Besides the wasted effort and the obvious negative effect on moral, the costs are enormous.  In “The Hidden Costs of Bad Hiring” The New York Times states that “the costs (of the wrong hire) will be hidden in an unemployment rate that goes up for the next three years, in wasted time that could have gone into more productive things, and in customers who get bad product or service during this period. You have hit the trifecta of wasted money.” Monetary costs of a bad hire are estimated by various experts at anywhere from one and one half times salary to fifteen times salary—that’s a huge financial drain on any company, not to mention wasted hours.

The predominant factor of 21^st century business is that there is zero tolerance for average results. And the most critical element of any business is —Talent. Without superior talent your business won’t have the advantage, the edge over the competition. But, how can you set yourself apart from your competition and create a positive, thriving work environment? How do you communicate best with the potentially best prospective team members?

A Harvard University study reports that 80% of employee turnover can be attributed to mistakes made during the hiring process.

A Michigan State University study shows that traditional hiring techniques (i.e. resume review, interview and reference checks) provide only a 14% likelihood of a successful hire. (That’s an 86% likelihood you’ll end up with an employee who will fail!)

How do you get ahead of the curve—have an environment that can boast positive hiring statistics?

First, you need to look at the qualities of a great hire; you want to look for the potential employee who is: ambitious, has excellent communication skills, confident, passionate about their work, ethical, organized, concerned with doing things legally, energetic, loyal, intelligent, open-minded, positive, business savvy, responsible and that plays nice with others and maybe even has a good sense of humor just to name a few.

There is no easy way around the hiring process. Many applicants become skilled at masking their true personality. It requires a disciplined and time intensive approach to make the right hire. An experienced interviewer can obtain additional information and behavioral based assessment testing is the most objective and economical way of predicting the probability of success of a potential hire. A consistent interview process will assure you make the right hire 75% of the time.

In a few minutes, a team can conservatively estimate the cost of a typical wrong hire in any job.  For mid-managers it’s typically $400,000 plus, and for sales rep’s it’s over $500,000. Now, calculate the cost of a wrong hire– be conservative, and put a $ figure next to each category and total the cost of a wrong hire.  It’s staggering to say the least:

Here’s an example:

SALES REPRESENTATIVE                                                                         

Hiring Costs  (Ads, Search Firm, HR time, etc.)     $__________________

Compensation                                                                      $__________________

Benefits                                                                                   $__________________

Payroll Taxes                                                                       $___________________

Maintenance                                                                        $___________________

Severance                                                                             $ __________________

Lost Opportunity Costs                                                  $___________________

(Missed Sales, Poor follow-up, Dissatisfied customers)

Disruption Costs                                                                $__________________

 TOTAL                                                                              $________________

*From the book, Topgrading, by Brad Smart

Okay, so we clearly know, hiring the bad apple is costly. But, how do you significantly increase your chances of making the right hire?

Here’s the screening and selection process I use for my own firm, and for our clients.  Remember, there is no quick fix, just like in marriage; does it make sense to go on two dates and get married?  It does, if you are looking for a costly separation and many spouses.  Well, it’s no different with hiring. Do your homework. Get to know the ‘real’ person, and you’ll have a much better chance of a long-term productive relationship.

FIRST:

Create a concise ‘job description wish list’ that includes the following:

               -Title

               -Job responsibilities

               -Competencies

              -First year expectations (including, the answer to this question: it’s one year from date of hire, what specifically has your new hire accomplished for you to be  satisfied?–This is your dream list of qualities candidate should possess.  i.e.  Refer to list above.)

           -Tests or surveys you will use to measure areas of importance to perform this role. (i.e. intelligence, personality, work ethic, sense of urgency, execution style, organization skills, etc.)– There are plenty of quality assessment tools out there that you can use.

SECOND:

Get rid of the spoiled milk.  History is a strong prediction of future performance. If a candidate has changed jobs every 2 years for the last 10 years more than likely they will do so again.  Either way, they are a poor decision maker, as they chose the companies for which they worked.

               -Lower the probability by  screening the resumes (from experience, 9 out of 10 resumes are spoiled milk or wrong fits for the opening- don’t waste your time calling these future ‘mis-hires.’) 

               -Phone interviews the candidates that meet your criteria.

THIRD:

Conduct behavioral based interviews and administer the proper assessment tools for the position for which you are hiring. The group approach is helpful—have more than one person interview the candidate and compare notes and observations. And don’t rush the process. Bring the person back for second and third interviews. The decision on who to hire is too important and the potential ramifications of hiring the wrong person for the job are too great!              

FINALLY:

Check references! What you learn with the extra effort may surprise you! Talk to each past direct supervisor, run license, social security and criminal background checks.

Sitting across from you is the “Perfect Hire.” In the past month, you’ve read hundreds of resumes and spent countless hours interviewing the wrong people. Finally, you know you have found the right person. From the moment he walked in and shook your hand, your instincts were telling you the search was over. As he describes his plan to increase company sales, you mentally check off the boxes on your list; extensive sales background, check, industry experience, check, home office, check. The conversation turns personal and you discover a shared interest in a favorite sports team and vintage cars. With a final glance at his resume, you offer him the job on the spot.  Just a quick email to HR and then you can start catching up on all of the work that went undone during your laborious quest to fill your open position.

A few months go by and although your sales numbers are not yet going up, your new employee assures you that he has several big contracts on the verge of being closed. You stay confident because you are a “people person” and your first impressions are always correct.

Then, you get the phone call. It’s your counterpart at a direct competitor calling to drop a major bomb. Apparently your “perfect hire” was actually a consummate actor. At the same time you hired him, so did two other companies. For the past three months he has been collecting three paychecks from three competing companies and laughing all the way to the bank. You are stunned. How could your instincts have been so wrong? How did you make such a costly mistake?

Although this is an extreme example, it clearly illustrates how interviewing and hiring without a systematic and consistent process can be lengthy, costly and sometimes disastrous. It is human nature to choose based on who we connect with on a personal level. Although this may be ideal when choosing friends, it is not the way to choose employees.

Most informal estimates of the dollar value of a bad hire put it at between 1.5 and 3.5 times the salary of the position. This generally takes into account the cost of advertising, interviewing, training and lost business. If you then factor in the cost of unemployment claims, staff morale, lost client confidence and in extreme cases, lawsuits, the total sum could be staggering. Given these kind of repercussions, why would any sane person hire based on nothing more than a good first impression, or a professional looking resume?
The simple answer is that most business owners and HR professionals are already stretched to the limit. When they have a position to fill, they are looking for the quickest path to completion so they can move on to the next item on their list.
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