Mr. Right? Or Mr. Right Now?
Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Categories:
Talent Management
I was watching one of the morning ‘news’ shows that seems to be less focused on the news than on fluff – but that’s probably another topic for another day. The reporter was interviewing two women with differing points of view:
Should a woman hold out for “Mr. Right” and potentially risk ending up an old maid and alone; or should she re-think her definition of “Mr. Right” and settle for someone who isn’t quite so perfect? At least she wouldn’t be alone.
Well, the debate continues on that point, but it got me thinking about how some companies conduct their hiring process – some seem to think that a warm body is better than none at all. I’ve even heard these words come out of an interviewer’s mouth: “Let’s give him 6 months to prove that he can do the job and then if it doesn’t work out we can start looking again.” WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY??!!!
This is wrong on so many different levels. Number one, turn-over is expensive. Just in terms of hard costs you can anticipate it costing at least 25% of the first year’s gross salary to conduct the search, interview candidates, do the background checks, and then make the hiring decision. For a $50,000 a year job, that hard cost is $12,500. Then you start calculating in the soft costs of decreased productivity, training, and allowing the candidate to come up to speed on the job, your culture, and your procedures and you could easily be looking at a $15,000 - $20,000 impact on your company’s bottom line. And you think it’s OK to do that every 6 months? That’s just one position. Most companies replace more than one position during the year.
Then think of the effect on the morale of the other employees who are left trying to fill in for someone who isn’t carrying their weight in the department. They become frustrated and annoyed, their productivity begins to slip and you have a downward spiral that will impact your bottom-line.
So, what can you do to avoid settling for Mr. Right Now?
Make sure you have a clear picture of exactly what ‘Mr. or Ms. Right” looks like. What are the hard and soft skills that they would need to excel in the position? Develop that clear picture, communicate that to all your applicants, assess each applicant against those skills, and keep looking until you find that person.
It may take a bit longer, but it will be worth it to you, your staff, and your company!
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