Michael Mercer, Ph.D.

<p>You need to hire the best employees. You undoubtedly hired some employees who were losers.</p><p>Oops!  Well, let s be more diplomatic.  Let s just say you hired some "underachievers" you would have been better without.</p><p>Or maybe you have the curse of hiring only "average" employees - people who are average in productivity and average in producing profits.</p><p>Question:  Who wants to hire "average" (or "below average") employees?</p><p>Answer:  No one!</p><p>To hire the best, you need to avoid the problems that plagued your previous hiring decisions.  So, let me reveal seven horrible hiring blunders or mistakes you may have made.</p><p><strong>1st Horrible Mistake: = Interviewers typically do a lousy job at predicting job success.</strong></p><p>This is a proven fact, verified by a lot of research.  Statistically, most interviewers do about as well as flipping a coin!</p><p><strong>2nd Horrible Mistake = Reference checks fail to tell you what you really need to know.</strong></p><p>Most employers are so freaked out about giving reference checks that they tell you nothing or barely anything useful about how an applicant performed on-the-job.  Another way to put that is most reference checks are about as non-useful as simultaneously (a) flipping a coin while (b) rubbing a rabbit s foot!!</p><p><strong>3rd Horrible Mistake:  You relied on your "gut feel" or "intuition" & you were W-R-O-N-G.</strong></p><p>Later, as you moaned about the mistake you made by hiring the wrong person, you asked yourself, "I knew what I was feeling.  But, what was I thinking?"</p><p><strong>4th Horrible Mistake:  You used subjective prediction methods to make hiring decisions.</strong></p><p>For example, you relied on subjective interviews, subjective reference checks, or subjective "impressions " of the applicant.  Wow!  Were you ever off-base.  And then you and your company needed to pay for your incorrect hiring decisions.  That is expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating.</p><p><strong>5th Horrible Mistake:  You used NO objective AND <u>customized</u> prediction method.</strong></p><p>Important:  Research shows pre-employment tests are the most objective method to make predictions.  But, make sure you use a test customized for specific jobs in your company!</p><p>If you have not used tests customized for specific jobs in your company, then you really have missed out on the most objective and customized prediction method you could use.</p><p><strong>6th Horrible Mistake:  You [stupidly] told the applicant what you were looking for!!</strong></p><p>Then, lo-&-behold, the applicant spent your entire interview telling you s/he just happens to possess all the skills, talents and qualities you - stupidly - told the applicant you want in an employee.</p><p>For example, let s say you - stupidly - told the applicant you need to hire an employee who excels at teamwork, customer-service, and correctly handling small details.  I bet I can predict what that applicant told you in the interview:  The applicant told you - with a serious yet pleasant expression - that s/he excels at teamwork, customer-service, and correctly handling small details.</p><p>And then, when you hired the person who gave you all the answers you - stupidly - told the applicant you want, you pay the price of having an employee who may not REALLY be talented at teamwork, customer-service, or handling small details.  You got fooled - and you have only yourself to blame.</p><p><strong>7th Horrible Mistake:  You terribly harm any person you should not have hired.</strong></p><p>Let s be humanistic about it.  If you hire the wrong person, the applicant also loses.</p><p>People crave to work in a job where they will do well and enjoy it.  People hate a job where they will perform only average or below average, and not enjoy the work.  So, you actually benefit the applicant you carefully evaluated using customized, objective hiring methods.</p><p><strong>Summary:  When you hire . . .</strong></p><p>1.  high-achieving "superstar" employees, both you and your company win.</p><p>2.  underachieving employees, (a) you lose and (b) your company loses.</p><p>So, make sure you use customized and objective prediction methods, like pre-employment tests, biodata and more, to make sure you hire employees who are (a) productive, (b) profitable, and (c) low turnover.</p><p>Copyright 2006 Michael Mercer, Ph.D.</p><hr /><p>Michael Mercer, Ph.D., is nationally recognized as America s Hire the Best Expert(TM).  Get his free 14-page Special Report on "Hiring Productive, Profitable, & Honest Employees", plus a free subscription to his Management Newsletter at <a href="http://www.pre-employmenttests.com/">www.Pre-EmploymentTests.com</a></p><p> </p>