4 CEO tips for hiring great employees

The stats on bad hiring are hard to ignore. Gallup’s State of the American Manager survey reveals we fail to select the candidate with right talent for the job 82% of the time. A Leadership IQ survey shows that 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months. And, a FastCompany survey revealed that 38% of companies made a bad hiring decision because they needed to fill the position quickly.

No wonder why Harvard Business Review is reporting that 66% of CEOs view “talent-related issues” as their top business challenge.

Okay, so we’re not so great at hiring. As a business leader, you have the ability to empower your people to leverage better. Here are some quick tips you can use to build a cheat sheet for hiring employees every time.

1. Write job descriptions tailored to the person you want in the position…from scratch. It’s rare anyone writes a unique job description these days. Most people copy and paste from job descriptions they find online and modify a couple of duties to best match the role they’re looking to fill. Although this practice may attract a few applicants, it’s likely you will fill your funnel with more noise than anything else. Before posting a job description, think beyond the briefcase (skills and experience) and focus on the traits you’d want someone in that role to be hardwired with. We’re talking about the behavior and cognitive ability needed to succeed in the role AND in your organization. Then, write a job ad from scratch in the voice and personality of the person you are looking to hire. Even without a proper you will find that candidates will naturally weed themselves out if the description doesn’t resonate with them.

2. Like the resume, but don’t count on it. 56% of hiring managers have caught job candidates lying on their resumes according to a Career Builder survey. You have to believe that most decent people don’t lie on their resume, but it’s safe to assume that bright people are skilled at crafting bright resumes. Before you fall head over heels for a resume, remember that experience and education on the resume are only ONE of several factors that will help you predict the best fit. Experience is learned, your behavior and cognitive ability are fixed. You need to determine these traits first.

3. Address poor interviewing skills. The average recruiter spends 6 minutes scanning a resume. And I’ll bet you are not spending much longer prepping for the interview that comes after. Some studies suggest that the interviewers spend the first 2 minutes of an interview forming a bias about the candidate and the rest of the time validating that bias. Arming yourself with data (comparing their resume against the job description, LinkedIn profile, and analyzing results of talent assessments taken pre-interview) will greatly impact how you approach the interview. Taking 20 minutes to review the data and craft a few structured interview questions will allow you to hone in on the items that matter most and ensure you leave the interview ready to make the best hiring decision.

4. Failure to predict on-the-job performance (OJP). Regardless of how many interviews you put candidates through, studies suggest your ability to predict OJP is almost negligible. Taking time to determine what the cognitive and behavioral demands of a particular position are before you interview can increase your chances of hiring success almost 8 times. Plus, leveraging tests that measure cognitive ability and personality, like the PI , can give you a wealth of knowledge pre and post hire that dramatically increase predictability, employee engagement, and shorten the time it takes for someone to get up to speed.

If you’re able to answer these questions then you’ll be well on your way to making a great hire:

1. Does the job description speak to your ideal candidate?
2. Use the resume as ONE factor in your decision making process. What are the other factors candidates need to be successful?
3. Do you know what questions you need to have answered in the interview? Have you reviewed the job description, resume, and any assessment results to craft a list of questions?
4. Are you confident in how the person will perform on the job? Are you leveraging talent assessments and hiring tools?

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