Have You Ever Made a Bad Hire?

June 7, 2021
Posted by: hpiadmin
Categories: Culture, Human Resources, Monday Message

Monday Message from Jerry Houston, President and CEO of HPISolutions

Have You Ever Made a Bad Hire? Is this an oxymoron? Who among us has not made a mistake in hiring… now don’t beat yourself up! Human beings are the most complicated machine in existence. We, as a species, are very complicated and intricate. Even if you are wise about using strong analytic tools, creating a job benchmark to assure that the job and the person in the job are a fit, there is always a risk in hiring. That said, executing the hiring process correctly will greatly improve your chance for success.

So, should your focus for hiring be on skills, education, and experience to avoid a bad hire? Or should it be on attitude? Let me ask you a question… Do you agree that you have hired for skill, but fired for attitude? Think carefully before you answer. It is very common that we are impressed with resumes, degrees, “accomplishments,” levels of experience, and then surprised that the person didn’t fit the culture of the organization and, ultimately left or was terminated after a whole bunch of time consumption and hand wringing.

Let’s ruminate on these thoughts this week, and I’ll share some more of my 50 years of hiring experience (some good, some not) in the next Monday Message.

Have a Great Week!