Hire carefully and intentionally. It hurts less.

By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon

When times get tight in our businesses, we look for places to cut expenses (as well as increase revenue). We might cut marketing costs based on the size of the expense (not wise). You might review the performance of your lead sources & reduce / eliminate some that aren’t performing well. In a business that manufactures things, we’d look at automation and raw material costs. We also look at ways to reduce waste. We’re also likely to look at hiring and staff-related expenses.

Getting rid of folks generally creates production and process challenges, but there are “easy” cuts sometimes. So-called easy cuts might include “extra” people, poor performers, and folks who aren’t adapting well to your culture, work, etc. Thing is, these are last minute cost-savings tactics with their own costs – and I’m not referring to unemployment insurance or severance. Our hiring process and ongoing curation of our team rarely gets a look – and that’s where the long term savings are hiding.

Careful hiring can avoid disruption

In general, business owners are a little impatient. Like the girl in Willy Wonka, we want it NOW. However, that sort of impatience is not a good investment at hiring time.

When we don’t take the time to learn enough about a candidate, we risk disrupting our business far and above the level of disruption that a need or departure has created. When we hire badly, we take even more time to fill the position. We create a mess trying to fit the person in, salvage the hire (or place them in another role), and perhaps get rid of the person and end up looking again. Making a hiring mistake can turn the wrong candidate’s life upside down. Getting hired is as much of a pain as hiring someone – and just as difficult.

A bad hire doesn’t imply a bad person. Sometimes, you get the wrong person for the role. Maybe there’s a skill / experience mismatch, or a culture fit that doesn’t work. Sometimes, there’s a behavioral / motivational issue. As such, it makes sense to work a little harder and a little longer to find the right person the first time.

Hiring better almost always takes longer and it’s certainly more work. I hear and read a lot of “can’t find anyone qualified” comments, but that’s often more about your company, the role, and your pay / benefits scale than it is a lack of people. Hiring isn’t something to rush. It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll make. Hiring before you’ve found the right candidate can be incredibly costly in time, money, morale, and other areas.

A rough example

A scenario like this played out in Missoula last week. A prominent public facing position became open due to a medical retirement. A replacement was named rather quickly, at least it seemed so. Soon after, the replacement’s comments on social media surfaced. Among other things, they were not particularly complimentary of the company’s industry. Other comments by the candidate received a lot of reaction. In some cases, they wouldn’t matter. It appeared the candidate’s social posts hadn’t been reviewed by the employer, who rescinded the offer the next day.

Reviewing a candidate’s social media posts may seem like a trivial thing to do. It might even seem like a silly waste of time. However, it’s become essential part of the hiring process and it’ll likely take less than an hour. 99% of the time, you’ll find nothing disqualifying. You’re almost certain to learn more about what’s important in the candidate’s life. The remaining one percent of the time – it’s likely to save you from making a mistake. This is particularly true for hires that might stick for 20-30 years.

I know… when you find a highly qualified candidate, you don’t want to look for disqualifying info. Do it anyway. It’s important to understand as much as possible about a candidate BEFORE you hire them, for your sake and theirs.

That position has been temporarily filled by the person who planned to retire. My guess is that this generous act will allow the business a bit more deliberate hiring process this time around.

This isn’t about what happened in Missoula. It’s about what might happen to your business. The time you might waste. The disruption to your business and to the life of the person you hire by mistake. Hire carefully and intentionally.

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Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on LinkedIn or Twitter, or email him at mriffey@flatheadbeacon.com.