How Companies Are Hiring The Wrong People

The hiring department of any business has an important job to do. They must create job descriptions that attract the right talent and choose prospective employees based on how they look on paper and their interview answers.

It can be a tough job and doesn’t always result in a valuable, long-standing employee who becomes a proven asset. Sometimes, the people you hire to work within your business create unhealthy work environments and worker rifts that lead to significant regret.

It’s clear that some companies are hiring the wrong people, and they don’t understand what went wrong. However, you might discover that your hiring processes are to blame, especially if you do some of the following things.

Your Interviewing Processes Are Dated

A traditional hiring process involves writing a job description, uploading it to job seeker sites, and setting up interviews for people who might have what your company needs. Some companies might even use recruiters to find new employees.

There is nothing wrong with these processes, but more advanced ones now exist, such as psychometric assessments through leading providers like TRAITS to see if prospective employees have the crucial work behaviors you’re looking for. If you provide psychometric assessments for prospective employees, you might be able to make your hiring decision on whether they have the following crucial behaviors:

• Assertiveness
• Sociability
• Pace
• Detail orientation
• Behavioral adaptability
• Creativity

You Prioritize Skills Above All Else

Employees need to have a wide variety of skills to help them perform their job to a high standard. Therefore, you might be tempted to hire someone based on their skill set alone. However, it’s important to know that skills can be taught, but you can’t always train new employees to be enthusiastic about their roles, team players, and have exceptional work ethic.

If you prioritize skills above all else, you might end up with an employee who can do their job but impacts other employees’ productivity and satisfaction levels. Hiring departments might find it more helpful to hire workers with some, but not necessarily all, of the hard skills and qualifications you need and soft skills like time management, social skills, and a willingness to learn.

Desperation

Staffing shortages have affected many small and large businesses, and hiring departments can feel like their only option is to hire people who aren’t necessarily the right fit but will fill a desk. As tempting as it can be to lower your standards to increase productivity, you might not see the results you desire.

While some employees might surprise you and excel in their roles, others might create problems with your other employees, leading to dissatisfaction and the loss of some of your most valued workers.

If you’re experiencing labor shortages and haven’t been able to fill a permanent position, consider internal changes until the right person comes along. For example, you might hire a contractor to ease some of the load, shorten your working hours to lighten worker loads and improve their happiness and safety, or advise customers about extended wait times for your goods and services.

They Hire Friends and Family

There’s nothing wrong with business owners, managers, and employees wanting to do right by their friends and family, but hiring them instead of publishing job descriptions to job seeker platforms might not be the right action to take.

There can be a long list of reasons why hiring people you’re close with can be a mistake, such as emotion being involved in all business and personal decisions and not always having the qualifications and skills you need. You might also find that you can no longer separate your personal and business lives, and those employees might also expect extra freedoms compared to other workers. If your business intends to hire the friends and family members of any employee, consider implementing safety net policies, such as not having them work in the same department.

Advertising in the Wrong Places

Sometimes, businesses hire the wrong employees because they look in the wrong places. Think about the type of people you’re looking for and where you’d expect to find them. For example, you might not reach executives by advertising on public noticeboards. Executives and people with management experience often browse websites explicitly offering those jobs, or they work with recruiters. Once you know where to find the right people to fill your roles, you might discover a higher caliber of applicants.

Companies don’t intentionally set out to hire the wrong people, but it can happen through a series of poor decisions. By avoiding some of these actions above, you might improve your chances of finding skilled and qualified employees who quickly become the assets your business has been looking for.