Can you hire the right person in weeks instead of months?
There seems to be a strange and rather odd premise today that taking a long time to hire results in the best hire. How this premise became mainstream is beyond my comprehension based on several years of hiring people in all types of jobs.
Great Candidates Don’t Sit Around
Suggesting that time is the main factor in arriving at an appropriate hiring decision is a ludicrous suggestion at best and, at worst, detrimental to hiring the best people and lessening the impact of a vacancy on the organization.
Really great people don’t wait months to get hired – they accept jobs with employers who understand the job for which they are hiring and can arrive at intelligent decisions based on experience and knowledge of the operations – the decisions are made quickly.
By taking a very long time to hire, the best candidates are lost to the competition!
Decision-making Competency
As for those making the hiring decision, whether or not the decision takes a couple of weeks or six months won’t make the decision better or worse. If a person can’t make a decision because they really don’t know and understand the job for which they hiring, no amount of extra time during the hiring process will make that decision better or worse.
Decision-making suffers tremendously today from paralysis from analysis. Academia teaches analysis. Brought into the workplace as the only “thing” causes unnecessary delays in making appropriate decisions.
There is a point at which everyone must take the leap and make a decision. Taking months instead of a day or a week or several weeks won’t make any difference in the competence of the decision-maker to make the right decision.
And, anyone seasoned in business knows that the most successful business people are those who have made the most mistakes. In every field of endeavour, it’s the same – those who make the most mistakes or suffer the most failures, enjoy the greatest success! Whether it be in business, sports, politics, or any other field, mistakes are the greatest teachers. The key is learning from mistakes.
Get On With It – Hire As Fast As Possible
Place the ad. Get the hiring manager to review all resumes. Set a schedule to hire quickly. Interview. Hire.
If a mistake is made, start again until the right person is hired.
I can tell you that within three or four days, you can tell whether the right person was hired or not and it’s only fair to both the company and the person hired to end a relationship quickly rather than compound the error.
Let Go of the Fear and Start Enjoying Less Stress
It’s stressful for both the company hiring and the candidates to go through the hiring process. Some companies think by extending the interview process over many, many months is sane. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The sooner the decision is made, the better for all concerned. However, there is so much fear surrounding making decisions today, anyone suggesting the quicker route is seen as radical.
Fear – that’s all it is. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of looking bad. It’s not the fear of a lawsuit since there is a probation period. Probation means “testing each other out for a fit”.
There is no real or rational reason for delaying the decision-making process about which candidate to hire if you have conducted great interviews and you’re a manager who knows and understands the work performed by those you supervise.
Do it – fast – it’s the best approach for all concerned!
Lorraine Arams
www.oncontractonly.com
