The Reality and Challenges of Hiring your Mid-level Leadership

It’s not far off to say that mid-level managers are among the most important pieces of the business puzzle. In fact, Wharton management professor, Ethan Mollick, says mid-level managers have a greater impact on company performance than any other part of the organization.

Why?

Because mid-level managers are responsible for seeing that your company’s vision and strategies are properly executed. This includes: guiding lower-level managers and their teams, motivating and inspiring teams to perform well, managing countless projects, allocating resources properly, supervising details, fostering an environment of innovation and creativity, tracking KPIs, reporting the results of these efforts to key decision makers, and much more.

In short, finding a good mid-level manager is worth its weight in gold. And, when your firm is in need of a new middle-level manager, it’s essential to get it right the first time. Not only will finding the right mid-level manager help your company grow more quickly, but making sure you get it right the first time will save your company time, stress, and money. Don’t believe it? Recent research says it can cost an organization up to 150% of a mid-level employee’s annual salary just to replace them.

It’s clear that finding the right manager the first time is vital, yet Gallup finds that companies fail to select the right candidate for the job 82% of the time. This statistic should be upsetting to every company, especially considering this failure to find good managers costs businesses billions of dollars a year.

This begs the question: why is mid-level recruiting so challenging? And, how can you ensure you get the right person on board from the get-go?

Top Challenges of Mid-Level Recruiting

Let’s come right out and say it. With statistics showing that management new hires are a miss 82% of the time, it’s easy to see that many companies lack the skills, training, and knowledge required to get the perfect manager on board the first time. Here are some of the main deterrents to finding the right person for the job.

1. You promote based on hard-work, rather than talent.

Most companies make the mistake of promoting hard-working employees from within the company into managerial positions, according to Harvard Business Review. This decision is often based on the fact that the hiring manager feels the individual deserves the position based on merit, rather than whether or not the individual has an actual talent for management. No matter how hard a person works, if they don’t have the talent and skills necessary to lead a team, a managerial position may not be the best fit.

2. You don’t use any scientific assessment in your hiring practices.

When it comes to finding the right person for the job, research-based practices are a much better indicator of success than your gut feeling. When companies use scientific assessment to select the top 20% of candidates, according to Gallup, they see:

●     59% less turnover

●     41% less absenteeism

●     21% higher profitability

●     17% higher productivity

●     10% higher customer metrics.

Many hiring managers don’t know how to follow a research-based approach to finding quality candidates.

3. You don’t have access to a wide enough range of candidates.

Another challenge hiring managers face is not having access to a wide enough range of candidates. Often when you have a mid-level management job opening, your advertising resources are limited to people within the company, word-of-mouth, and job boards. However, this rarely gives you a far enough reach to find a qualified leader.

When you couple lack of advertising options with the pressure of needing to fill the position within a certain time frame, it can result in a disaster hire.

Rather than settling for the best you could find in a short time, it makes much more sense to go with a talented recruitment agency to help you find the perfect fit every time.

4. You lack the proper interviewing skills.

In a recent article, Gallup outlines the interests of a high-quality candidate versus a low-quality candidate.

A high-quality candidate is attracted to companies that encourage them to do what they do best, be who they are at the company, and allow them opportunities to apply their skills. High-quality candidates are interested in personal and professional growth.

A lower-quality candidate, on the other hand, is more interested in particulars like pay, benefits, work hours, and work demands. Lower-quality candidates are more interested in getting a job to make ends meet.

The question, then, is do you know how to ask the right interview questions to identify the difference between a high-quality candidate and a low-quality candidate? Statistics indicate the answer is “no,” in most cases.

5. You make snap judgments.

It’s easy to think you know enough about a person after glancing at his or her resume or after talking to them for 10 seconds to make the proper decision. While it’s important for an interviewee to make a good impression, it’s up to you to delve deeper and make sure you are not missing out on a viable candidate by dismissing, or accepting, them too soon.

After all, it’s common for hiring managers to attribute too much, or too little, credit to an individual based on favorable situations, finds a Harvard Business School study. For example, you may learn that a candidate went to a prestigious university, and hire them based on that association, only to realize later they don’t reflect the caliber of student that usually comes out of that university, and they lack the skills required to lead effectively. Similarly, you may overlook someone who went to a less prestigious university, even though they have more natural leadership talent and have developed better managerial skills.

When it comes to hiring, it’s important to avoid snap judgments and to be willing to delve deeper to find a truly skilled manager to fill the position.

Wrap-up

Finding the right manager the first time will save your company time, money, and a huge headache. However, it’s important to remember that you may not have the skills and resources to find your star manager. Rather than striking out and having to start over, place your bets on a talented recruiting agency that will help you hire middle and senior level talent with a local presence.