- so why hire after just a few interviews?

IMHO choosing a spouse is the decision that we take the most care about. We flirt, then we date, then we try living together. Then we have long engagements before making the commitment to marriage. Why - because we know that our choice in partners is one of the most important choices we make. But choosing staff is almost as important to our life happiness.

We think our spouse is the person we spend the most time with. But then we also spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week with colleagues. So maybe we’d be happier in life if we took more care in choosing staff. Getting married after just a few dates would seem crazy. So why hire after just a few interviews?

Choosing the right partner is important for our happiness & success

Partners are there to complement us, maybe it’s not so cheesy to say “You complete me”.If we choose an incompatible partner then we’re going to be unhappy. Choose the wrong partner and there’ll be something missing from your life. But the right partner is a source of strength for our life success. It’s not that much different hiring staff.

Good employees are the heart and soul of any business. They’re the driving force that makes it run. That’s why hiring the best is crucial and the single most important thing a manager does. Hire a mismatched employee and you’ll have constant conflict. Hire the wrong staff member and it’s you who has to pay with your happiness when you’re fixing their mistakes and doing the work they didn’t do. It’s you who will be stuck with poor performance.

Lesson:

Want to enjoy being a boss more? Wondering where your workplace success is? Invest in hiring the right employees.

know where to Save Time by investing time

We spend so much time with our spouse that we don’t want to lose the best years of our life with the wrong person. But sometimes it seems like we spend more time in the office than with our partners. Recruiting seems like a long-winded, time-consuming process. Especially when we’ve got a hole in our organization that we desperately want to fill. But cut the wrong corners and it’s going to cost you a lot more time. Nothing sucks up time like poor employee performance.

Lesson:

Want more time in your working day? Invest a little time to make sure you haven’t made a mistake on a bad investment.

Getting married is expensive, getting divorced is more expensive

Weddings are so expensive - no wonder you want to get it right the first time. Couples are spending the equivalent of a years income on getting married. Getting it wrong is even costlier - sometimes it seems like couples only stay together to avoid the cost and stress of divorce.

Hiring costs about the same. There are obvious costs like recruitment fees. But add in manager time, training and waiting for the employee to get up to speed and it’s not far off an annual salary. Ditto when things go wrong. The total cost of a bad hire is a minimum of 25% of their salary but could be over one and a half times their annual cost.  Are there any employees on your team that are there solely because of the pain and cost of replacing them?

Lesson:

Quick and cheap hiring is a false economy.

Conclusion

We spend years learning about the opposite sex. And in some cases years getting to know someone before committing to getting married. For a long-term relationship to work we we first need to get to know the other person really well. Because marriage is expensive and divorce even costlier. Not to mention the unhappiness and emotional stress of being in a bad relationship.

Hiring staff is almost as big a commitment. When you consider the investment in time and money, hiring the right person the first time around is vital. You’re not going to build a relationship with your new hire over the course of a few interviews. But isn’t it worth it to take as much care at work as you do at home to create a supportive environment? The answer - absolutely! Don’t just take my word for it. Look at the great measures some of the world’s greatest leaders go to to make sure they hire they best:

  • This is how Steve Jobs built his team of A+ players by personally interviewing applicants and only hiring the best,

  • This is why Google has opted for behavioral interview questions over brainteasers and,

  • These are some of the bizarre interview techniques that Zappos uses to ensure that candidates are a good culture fit.

  • This is how Richard Branson looks at the person behind the resume.

My message

- it’s worth it to be sure. Investing in a good recruitment process will pay you a thousand times over in:

  • Money

  • Time

  • Happiness

Comments:

What's your experience with hiring employees? If you have any tips or questions please help the rest of us out by sharing in the comments below.

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