The Most (business news) Common Hiring Errors

February 28th, 2010 admin Posted in finance |

By Pete Castaneda

Hiring a new employee is something that professionals often postpone as long as possible. It is important to find the right person to fill the vacancy. The hiring process takes time and effort. There is a big temptation to add someone who is available at that moment and looks like they have the skills to do it. This is often a mistake. Here is a list of other hiring mistakes that professionals frequently make:

1. No job description - By writing down in detail the tasks that this employee will be required to do the hiring manager will be able to see clearly the qualifications a person will need to do this job.

2. Hiring someone without the necessary skills - It will be clear from the job description what skills are necessary for the job. Testing the candidate to be sure that his or her skills are current is also important. (Use a Proof reading, filing, or grammar skills assessment.)

3. Hiring someone without having the person take a behavioral assessment - The assessment will help you see if this person will fit into the office and compliment the skills of the other people. It will also help you to communicate with the person in a way that that person will hear. Most managers tend to hire people like themselves when in fact they may need someone who can do some of the things that the manager doesn’t enjoy.

4. Hiring someone whose temperament or personality is wrong for the job - Some positions require people who are talkative and friendly and others require people who enjoy working by themselves. Certain tasks require a detail oriented person while others need some one who sees the big picture. Knowing the personality type and temperament that is best for the particular position will help the manager find the right person.

5. Hiring friends and/or relatives - Often people hire friends or relatives to be kind or to do a favor for someone. If the decision turns out to be a bad one, the situation can get really uncomfortable. It is often difficult to give feedback to friends or relatives and they often resent being put in a position where they have to be grateful for the opportunity but are really angry with you for the criticism.

6. Not interviewing the candidate - To really get to know if you can work with someone you need to speak with him/her directly either face to face or by phone.

7. Not preparing for the interview by creating a set of questions that you ask everyone - Spending time preparing a set of probing questions for the candidates will help you to determine which candidate most closely fits your job description.

8. Not posting the job, advertising it in the paper and/or using a recruiter so that you get multiple candidates giving you a choice - Some are tempted to hire the first applicant. If you advertise for candidates in multiple ways and use a recruiter too, you should have a variety of candidates to interview and select from.

9. Not screening the candidates so you interview everyone - Once you have a group of candidates it is easiest to have screening interviews to weed out those who are definitely inappropriate. Often screening interviews are done by phone but also could be done by email.

10. Not checking references and background. - It is tempting once you have settled on a candidate to hire him/her on the spot. It is worth taking the time to check references and background to be sure that this candidate has honestly presented him/herself.

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Success May Be Outside Your Comfort Zone

By Pete Castaneda

A fellow internet radio host recently joined the business mentoring website that I co-own with Alice Seba of InternetBasedMoms.com. Soon after, she sent me an instant message that said, “You and Alice are sure drawing me out of my comfort zone!”

I understood immediately what she meant. In the short period of time since she joined our site, she has completely redesigned her website and stepped up on some of the business tools that she needed to make her business run more smoothly. She was really making great progress. I shot back a quick reply, “There’s no money in your comfort zone!”

That’s a powerful statement! There is no money in our comfort zone!

This reminds me of some of the really unfortunate comments I’ve seen on the WAHM forums and discussion lists. There are Moms who were struggling to make ends meet last year who are still struggling this year. Nothing has changed, they’re doing the same old things and their businesses aren’t bearing anymore fruit than they ever did. Yet they are giving advice to others - bad advice at that.

The golden nugget of advice most often repeated is: “You shouldn’t have to pay for information to grow your business when there is so much available for free.” To hear them tell it, selling information is akin to selling your body! A dirty profession! Well, if it’s true, if there is so much free info - why aren’t they prospering by now?

If you’re determined to keep doing the same things that you’ve always done to promote your business - you really are stuck in a comfort zone. If what you’re doing was going to work, it would have worked by now. It’s time to break out of that box and start trying some tactics you’ve never considered before.

The scary thing about moving outside of your comfort zone is that it usually calls for an investment on your part. Whether that is putting in extra hours or extra dollars, you’re going to have to stretch yourself to acquire a new mindset where your business is concerned.

The first step for Tammy was to ask for constructive criticism of her website. Some of the advice she received make it clear that she needed to loosen up the purse strings and begin to invest in her business in order to see it perform better over the long run. I’m happy to report that she’s taking immediate steps to do so!

What do you need to do to break out of your comfort zone? Do you need to invest some time and money into a learning product? Could you benefit from some business or life coaching? Should you sign up for a class or two to spiff up your skills? Whatever it is - just do it. Yes it will make you feel uncomfortable at first but I promise you it’s worth it.

I know what a challenge this is, I like being comfortable! But being comfortable kept me broke and in debt. I’m glad I decided to step outside my self imposed comfort zone of doing the ’same old-same old’. I walked out into a much wider place of adventurous marketing and business development. I’ve found that that is where the money is - and everything else that we started our businesses for in the first place.

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