Tips on new ways to approach recruitment and how to find the right people for the right roles at the right times. 
Rapid growth, shock resignations – hiring new people can often take companies by surprise, especially when succession planning is falling short at many major companies.
It’s no wonder, then, that in their rush to find someone, companies often end up with new hires who are the wrong fit – for the role, the team, or the brand as a whole. For every new hire comes the cost of recruiting, background checks, onboarding, training, salaries, benefits, and equipment. But the cost of hiring the wrong people goes a lot deeper than that.
From managing poor performance, damage to team morale, drain on productivity and – in the worst cases – poor customer service and reputational costs, the impact of one bad decision can be hard to reverse. In some cases, ‘bad hires’ are actually strong candidates who have simply been placed in the wrong roles. This is also bad news – a single good hire leaving the company because a position isn’t a good fit will cost the company, on average, 6-9 months of their salary.
To process this for a second – losing a great manager on a salary of $60K will cost you $30-45K.
When it comes to connecting workers with the right jobs, on the other hand, the benefits are a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. Studies consistently show employees value being in a position where they feel they can excel and that involves meaningful work. Put these employees in the right place, and they may well be your managers of the future.
That brings us to our first tip:
How to find the perfect manager
It may astonish you to learn that companies hire the wrong manager in over 80 percent of cases. Finding the right manager is pivotal to the entire team’s culture and productivity. However, if your hiring team is on the hunt for the perfect manager, you may just be searching for an endangered species.
A recent Gallup study, found just one in ten people have the natural talent to be a truly great manager. A further two people in ten, on the other hand, showed potential, however, possessing some basic managerial talent.
With this in mind, it is clearly less a case of finding a great manager, than it is creating one – through training, mentoring and general support.
And it’s here – it would seem – that so many employers go wrong. In 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found companies with fewer than 100 employees gave only 12 minutes of manager training every six months. Organizations with 100 – 500 employees provided just 6 minutes.
Mid-level supervisors said more than two out of five of their company’s managers, on average, were unprepared when they assumed their management role. And less than half of the managers in their organization fell under the “highly effective” category.
All of this leads onto our second crucial tip.
Help Employees Advance
According to Gartner, 40 percent of departing employees leave due to dissatisfaction with their career development and future prospects.
To find the right person for the right job — and structure a career progression plan for that employee — managers need to understand workers’ goals, and many aren’t trying very hard to do so. With 96 percent of employees viewing empathy as a vital element of employee retention, it’s important for managers to take the time to listen to their employees and understand their needs.
A Towers Watson survey found employees feel only 41 percent of managers are effective at conducting career development discussions as part of the performance management process. Employers may be in the dark about the problem because just 27 percent of organizations monitor their career management program’s effectiveness. This shows that a significant number of companies may not even be aware their efforts aren’t working.
But before you can nurture these great employees, you first need to find them.
It Starts with the Job Description
To avoid hiring the wrong person for the job, an accurate job description is key. An inaccurate one can draw unqualified candidates or cause highly qualified candidates to look elsewhere.
It’s vital that you incorporate the success factors for a role, as well as identify the behaviors, qualities, and skills that will bring value. Keep things short and sweet, and ensure you mention the company culture, as well as the specifics of the work. Company culture heavily influences candidates’ opinions. And this can be the difference between a quality candidate applying for your role or choosing another company.
Accurately describing the job is important, both for ensuring job satisfaction for the successful candidate and avoiding a bad hire.
With 72 percent of hiring managers stating they use accurate job descriptions, and only 36 percent of candidates agreeing, it’s clear there’s a gap that needs closing.
Screen Candidates Carefully
At this point, would it shock you to learn that actually only 16 percent of new hires have all the skills they need for their current role and the position they’re moving into?
Hiring managers need to be thorough, ask behavioral-based questions, check references, and follow through on other important interview process steps.
Using data analysis techniques to identify specific experience, skills, and other essential traits candidates who have been successful in that role have had in the past may help you draw a checklist of what future candidates need to possess in order to be successful in the position.
To identify jobseekers who might be a good fit for a role, some companies are even utilizing AI in HR, employing talent rediscovery solutions that essentially comb through previously reviewed candidate credentials to see if any individuals would be qualified for another position — or may have been inadvertently overlooked at first.
If you’re not sure which elements can indicate an employee isn’t a good fit for a management role, our blog post on clues that suggest someone may be a bad manager highlights a few potential warning signs.
If you would like to know more about how to optimize your recruitment strategies, trying reading our blog posts on secrets to finding the perfect candidate culture match, three innovative ways companies are using AI in recruitment, creating an ongoing talent pipelining program, HR’s biggest succession planning challenge — and why you need to focus on soft skills when assessing candidates and employees.