Every manager probably has a story about a dream recruit who turned out to be a hiring nightmare.
Take the guy who had you in stitches at his interview lunch but ultimately couldn't sell his way out of a paper sack. Or the woman with the sterling marketing resume who bombed when she had to actually give a presentation.
The typical lament among hiring managers: What the heck did we do wrong?
Whether it's recruiting for personality over production, or sliding down the slippery slope of taboo interview questions, nearly everyone entrusted with hiring responsibilities has made mistakes. And while there are tons of self-help guides advising job candidates on how to ace their big interview, what about help for the inexperienced hiring manager on other side of the table?
We wondered how the real hiring professionals do it: the people who successfully recruit, screen, hire and retain great employees. What are their methods, their favorite interview questions, their best practices?
In recent interviews, Chattanooga area HR and legal pros offered these tips for fine-tuning your hiring and interviewing strategies.
* Assessment testing. When judging how fit a potential worker is for the task at hand, the proof is in the pudding. Job-specific testing (for hard and soft skills) may not guarantee a new employee will get along with his or her co-workers, but the results are pretty good indicators of future job competency.
Mark Campbell, owner of a local Manpower Inc. franchise, says that the Chattanooga area could soon face a shortage of workers for light industrial jobs. So employers need to be on top of their hiring practices.
"I'm a firm believer in assessment testing," he says. "We give a psychological profile assessment to all our employees. And we also give a thorough manpower skills assessment. I've seen our turnover drop dramatically."
* Targeting competencies. Hiring white collar workers is no crap shoot if you do your due diligence on defining the skills necessary to succeed. Gary Steele, director of talent management and business consulting at BlueCross BlueSheild of Tennessee, says that tailoring questions to the job at hand is an art.
"We believe in behavior-based interviews," he says. "We tie our jobs to a group of competencies that we feel people have to grasp to do a job. Then, the questions we ask are tied to the competencies they'll need."
For example, he advises asking job candidates, "How did you do this before "
* Benchmarking. It may sound obvious, but good hiring is grounded in understanding what an employer wants (and doesn't want).
Merri Mai Williamson, owner of Applications Researchers, a company specializing in background checks, says employers should start the hiring process by bench-marking crucial job requirements, using existing employees as examples.
"Take your best employee and your worst employee in a position," she says. "Then identify any similarities in your (job) candidates."
Stop signs should become clear, she said, as should green lights.
* Compare apples and apples. Sometimes success in a previous position is an unreliable indicator of success at a future job.
"You have to know up front what your job requires to have your behavior-based questions have any validity," says Dave Masters, a consultant with Clear Options HR. "You can have really good stories about what people have done in other jobs, but if they don't have anything to do with they would be doing in your job, it won't mean anything."
* Know the law. Just as important as asking the right questions, is not asking the wrong ones.
Karen Smith, an attorney at the Miller & Martin law firm specializing in employment law, says that employers should steer clear of questions about gender, age, race, national origin or religious affiliation - basically any question that might spark a discrimination charge.
"Focus on what you need to know to [decide if the candidate can] perform the functions of the job," she says. "If you don't need to know it for that, you shouldn't be asking."
* Validate your tests. While pre-employment testing may be a good predictor of a future employee's competency, companies must be careful not to disqualify applicants with tests that don't match the job.
"Make sure that any tests have been validated and are job related," Smith says.