Hiring the right person the first time is the hardest part of recruitment. These days, people have plenty of choices when it comes to their next opportunity. The average cost of a bad hire is up to 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings according to the U.S. Department of Labor. However, one report from the CEO of Link Humans puts the average cost as high as $240,000 in expenses. When broken down, the costs relate to hiring, retention, and pay. This is especially true when hiring someone for your sales team, as the cost increases due to lost revenue opportunities.
When calculating the cost of a bad hire, consider:
- your time – reviewing resumes
- the cost of a classified ad/internet advertising
- morale (either the existing team is overworked or frustrated because they’re working at the same rate of pay as a poor performer)
- lost client opportunities and lost client confidence (yet another rep is assigned to their account)
The best way to stay focused and secure a successful hire is to have a plan and to remain dedicated to working the plan.
If you are like many companies, you don’t have a designated HR department. If you are like many managers, hiring is a headache. Hiring is risky, there are no guarantees, and people will always have a few unpredictable gray areas. In other words, people are not always consistent. We are impacted by things like our morning commute, our grumpy but talented coworker, or a boss who doesn’t take the time to get to know their team. The need for an individual who is comfortable with the work AND the workplace is critical.
Obviously, this is a task to consider carefully. The steps below will help you to focus on attaining a successful hire and avoid costly mistakes. While no process is perfect when dealing with human beings, staying on plan can give you the edge you need.
Step 1: Develop a new hire checklist, identify your needs, and identify what doesn’t work.
- Can this position be filled internally, temporarily, or not at all?
- Identify the traits of the job. For example – Claims adjusters must be analytical. Sales reps must be assertive.
For example, individuals who need a great deal of recognition might not be happy in an inconspicuous job, and passive people could avoid tasks like cold calling or taking aggressive actions.
In this step, identify the exact traits you’d like for members of your sales team. For example, to be successful in sales, one has to be assertive. With the Omnia Assessment, this equates to a tall column 1 (as indicated above).
Step 2: Identify recruiting channels. Don’t only seek experienced applicants because that can lead to the “recycling” of unsuccessful yet “experienced” individuals. Remember, recruiting is not one person’s exclusive responsibility. Every supervisor/manager should have an ongoing goal that states, “Through my own networking, during hiring times, I will solicit and present two viable candidates per month.” This is especially true for anyone with a private office and a door!
It is easy to get comfortable in your own office but getting out in the community and letting people know you’re looking for talent is wonderful PR. The type of position does NOT matter. Networking is important whether you’re recruiting an executive assistant for yourself, a sales rep, or a manager. For salespeople, be very active in recruiting on LinkedIn.
Step 3: Get professional assistance if you use online job boards and/or classified advertising on the Internet or the newspaper. Asking someone unbiased questions about your ad’s content will result in more qualified responses. The more targeted your advertising is, the less filtering you’ll have to do.
Step 4: Filter your response using the list of traits identified in Step 1. Watch for “date blending” on resumes and resumes that contain only years. Send “not interested” letters to the appropriate candidates. Remember the rule of thumb – disgruntled people reach at least ten others. Happy people tell only one or two. This, like networking, is very inexpensive positive PR.
Step 5: Contact applicants and schedule a five-minute phone screening interview. Explain your process to the candidate.
Step 6: Send qualified candidates an Omnia assessment. With the Omnia Assessment, you go into the interview prepared with specific details on the personality traits of the individual being considered. You’re going to want to focus on candidates with tall 1-3-5-7 columns, like the image above.
Step 7: Interview the candidates in person or via video at least two times on two different days. There are many reasons for two interviews: to ensure they arrive on time both days, to ask a couple of duplicate questions to check consistency, and to give them a chance to ask additional questions they didn’t think of on their first visit.
Interview using both traditional questions, such as “How many hours did you work at XYZ Company?” or “What is your ideal job?” and behavioral questions, such as “Tell me about the last time you had to deal with an irate client” or “Tell me how you ranked competitively among the local sales team for the last quarter.”
Step 8: Have at least one additional interviewer meet the applicant, and have the applicant meet with at least one potential peer. Additionally, have the applicant do a “job preview.” By job preview, we mean that each applicant should sit with, ride with, etc., someone doing the proposed job now for at least 2-4 hours. Incompatibility with the job is cause for 50% of employee turnover.
If possible, have the applicant prepare and present some presentation or role-play. By this, we don’t mean “sell me the pen.” Instead, while on your premises, ask the applicant to write a short proposal, a business letter, or do a mock sales presentation, any of which are tied to your line of work and to the job for which they are applying. If you’re seeking a sales rep to sell an intangible, asking the person to sell you a Bic is not job-relevant, but asking them to review your collateral materials for 15 minutes, then make a presentation based on that is very job-relevant.
Step 9: Proceed with a full range of background checks. This is more to cover yourself in case there’s something not picked up during the interview and recruitment process. Remember, put the fact that you require background checks in your job description to weed out candidates who aren’t willing to do them.
Step 10: Write an offer letter outlining the position, the expectations, benefits, and the compensation (monthly or weekly increments). Explain in the offer letter that this is not a contractual agreement. The offer letter should begin with “Pending satisfactory background checks.”
Once you’ve finished these steps, it’s time to help your new hire flourish in your organization. Use your Omnia Assessment from Step 6 to identify key traits that will help with managing your new associate. If you’re interested in using the Omnia Assessment for your hiring process, contact us today!
