How to control the Hit and Miss of Mis-hiring in an Organisation

It is an open secret that great employees are the building blocks of a successful organisation. In other words, the progress of an organization is proportional to the talent it acquires. In today’s day and age, an ideal candidate can turn out to be an asset that the organization can use as a stairway to credibility and success. However, in the tryst to build up a stellar team, one often ends up overestimating the capabilities of the candidate and hence, ends up hiring the wrong candidate.

Currently, employee turnover is comparatively expensive; studies estimate that the average cost to replace an employee is approximately 30% of the said employee’s annual salary.While the more exhaustive ones suggest that it’s upwards of 150 percent – with the cost increases proportionally to the level of expertise, responsibilities, and position of the employee being replaced. Due to such reasons, it becomes essential for each organization to pay more and more attention to each job applicant.

In order to avoid mis-hiring the employers need to follow the below listed 6 guidelines:

• Figure out the exact requirement: Often organisations are confused, in regard to their requirements. By aping industry trends without prior foresight, they frequently overlook the necessities to build a successful business empire. At times, many end up hiring an SEO specialist when they actually require a top-notch web developer. Employers need to keep in mind thatthe candidate has to be an expert in the required field,as anything less would amount in great losses. In order to overcome this, HR personnel should discuss/ exchange thoughts with experts from specific departments within an organisation to understand the exact skill requirement, calculate the recruitment budget, and distinguish between the core-skills and added qualities. This in-return assists in crafting a detailed job description with essential parameters that enables HR personnel to hire the right candidate.

• Evaluate candidates systematically: Hiring mishaps are credited to a flawed candidate evaluation emerging from an inadequate assessment process, exaggerations on a candidate’s resume, or a misleading “gut feeling.” Therefore, employers needto incorporate more objectivity into their hiring process via background and reference checks, personality assessments, coding tests, and drug screening. Structured interviews ensure talent-based subjective comparisons of candidates. The usage of job simulations has been helpful through providing a realistic job preview, which aids in predicting job behaviour and performance.

• Shake up the interview structure: Considering how people come up with a set of “learnt answers”, it’s beneficial to change the structural makeup of the interviews through asking a variety of behavioural questions and situational ones alongside, a writing-based judgemental assessment. The results may be varied, but it provides a diverse insight into the psyche of the candidate. One cannot hire on the basis of only one evaluation. Instead, the use of a variety of methods in conjunction with performance appraisals and other realistic work simulations, helps in providing a more complete and accurate picture of the prospective employee.

• Involvement of employees:It is essential to understand the significance of an employee, especially when it comes to hiring. They are known to haveafunctional understanding of various roles within the organization, and are likely to advocatefor candidates who match the purposeful requirements of the positions. One can use the framework of the already present employee to acquire new members. Here, referral program are of a great help, as it enables employees to easily refer suitable candidates. Participation of the parent team is essential for hiring an apt candidate.

• Focus on hiring quality, not quantity:Hiring drives set up to hire employees in batches, are slowly killing the purpose of talent acquisition. Hiring in quantity does ensure that the positions are filled in a swift fashion, yet doesn’t guarantee quality. To hire ideal candidates, one needs to thoroughly vet the screening process, which is not possible in bulk hiring. The shift of mentality, from quantity to quality, is necessary for enlisting proficient candidates. One cannot forego the importance of highly skilled manpower, as no amount of bulk hiring can replace the revenue generating power of an efficient team. A lean team of 12 talented members is well enough to be the driving power/force of an organization’s success.

• Keep channels open: It is of utmost essentiality to predict the need for hiring, before the requirement even arises. Enlisting social networks, events, trade fairs and so on, for hiring, is a smart decision that will benefit in the longer run. Talent acquisitions require a keen eye on the pulse of the industry.Alongside, it is of great benefit to use references from friends and fellow industry compatriots.

In the current year, organizations would acquire enough monetary resources to start hiring again. The point is, are you well prepared?

The article has been contributed by Mr Saif Ahmad, Founding CEO, Hallwaze Inc

.