Hiring: The 80/20 Rule

The only people on this planet that think hiring is easy are people that have never held the responsibility before.

You have a pinch of time to assess whether this random human is the right human to spend money and time on. This person will hold a piece (sometimes a large chunk) of the company's success or failure in their hands. That's some heavy responsibility, right? Of course it is...that's why hiring is not for everyone...hardly for anyone.

The Recruiting industry has a high turnover rate because it takes super thick skin and gigantic coconuts to be confident enough to put your reputation on the line with/for basically complete strangers. I'm crazy enough to thrive in this type of environment, however, I totally understand why most people get the heck out of Dodge.

Often, once we pass candidates through to our clients, the person tends to overthink and then overthink some more. Most of the positions we work with are Management and higher, of course it's a big decision...but at the end of the day, overthinking is wasted time in the business of hiring. There will always be people that turn out to be the wrong fit or simply don't work out for one reason or another...working with humans, it's inevitable. The key is to not dwell and take it to heart. Truth is that sometimes we just make bad hiring decisions but mostly it's simply people tend to be crappy people and are really good at putting on a temporary mask to get in.

I've been in this industry long enough to identify qualities that make people more effective at hiring. I call it the 80/20 rule. Chances are, I probably created it to pacify myself after some gnarly fail of a hire, but it's actually turned out to be pure genius :)

Hiring: 80/20 Rule

Let's start with the easier portion...

20% of the hiring decision is what the actual hard facts (or stated as facts) are. I said it and mean it, only 20%. Before the candidate is sitting with you, you should know that they have or at least seem to have the required skills. Their resume will tell you their claimed past professional experience. When they're interviewing with you, you'll ask questions based on the facts. Did they have longevity? If yes, why? If no, why? What we've discovered is when people stay too long in one position, there's issues...when they pull the trigger quickly and hop ship, there's issues. Bottom line, people have issues so their past work history isn't black and white, don't put more than 20% of your decision into it. I'm sure many people just passed out from this because they base 90% of their decision on work history. It's ineffective and with far too many variables. 20% is more than enough of the pie for past experience. If skill and past work history alone were enough to create a long and successful partnership with employees and employers...there would be close to zero turnover, and we all know that's not the case! The reality is you'll only truly know if this person has the skills once they're in action. Overthinking this will only drive you batty, it won't actually improve your results.

80% of the hiring decision is trusting yourself. In other words...trust your gut instinct. At the beginning of this article/blog, I stated that hiring is not for most. Most people are not confident, they don't actually trust themselves to make decisions, and they don't easily swipe off the dirt and move forward when they take a face plant in a big pile of dirt! 80% of the hiring decision should be based on your ability to assess if this person has the right personality, values, mindset, work ethic, humor (or lack of), for the company and very important...vice versa. 80% is a big fat number. These are the factors that are most important. These are the real things that maintain and create positive company culture. These are the gray areas. These are the things that create and maintain customer satisfaction. These are the things that make them think long and hard when I call them to entice them to leave their current situation. When people are the right fit, and the company is the right fit for them, it tends to become a solid relationship. Will they stay forever? Who knows, but the chances of having a healthy and successful relationship is much higher. Pay attention to how they react to you. Listen when they speak. Watch their body language. Have key players meet with them in a comfortable situation that promotes truth and get a real feel for the general vibe. You are essentially building a handmade family, you want each person to thrive and add to the success as a whole. Once you deem them as the right one, make the offer. This is where trusting yourself comes in. Trust yourself, your gut and take the plunge! (If you deem them not right, let them know right away as well. It's not warm and fuzzy but it's the right thing to do)

Hiring is always a risk and we have no way of knowing without question if the person is going to work out, however, following the 80/20 will most definitely level up your success rate in hiring and retaining great people.

Happy Hiring! #Hiring #HR #HiringManager #Advice

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