Hire the right people!
I am sure you have had the experience of hiring someone that interviewed well, looked great on paper, but never performed up to expectations. We hire based on the knowledge and skills (resume, references) that are presented to us. We hire people we like, or who are like us. We hire through the lens of our own biases. We may see the attitudes that the candidate shows during the interview, but we don’t know what attitudes they will bring with them to the job.

According to a Michigan State University study done by Dr. Robert Hunter, the traditional resume'-interview-hiring process is only 14% effective in finding the right people. If you add reference checks, you can increase your efficiency to 26%. This is typically how most companies hire. That means that only 1 in 4 of your hires are the right ones!

So how can you increase your chances? If you add testing for attitudes and behaviors, your rate of success goes up to 53%. However, if you add a job benchmark, your success rate climbs to 76%.

Benchmarking a job starts with the question: "If the job could talk, what would it say?" In other words, why does the job exist? By creating a benchmark for the job, you will understand what kind of a person you are looking for. You eliminate the biases that you bring to the interview process. With the benchmark in hand, you can assess the candidates and compare them directly to the benchmark. As stated previously, going through this process means that you will hire the right person 3 out of 4 times, reducing your turnover.

Further, if you hire the right person for the job, you will reduce stress on the person you have hired. They will be doing the things they like to do and are suited to do. Doing the job comes more easily, and job satisfaction increases.

Set Clear Expectations
Nobody comes to work wanting to do a bad job. One reason for turnover is a lack of clear expectations. It is evidenced by a lack of clear direction about the way success is measured and what outcomes the work will result in. Be sure to develop a clear set of work standards, and allow your employees to interface with customers as often as possible. Don't forget to celebrate achievements in hitting the standards!

Now comes the hard part... what are your expectations for the company? Do you have a clear vision for the future? Does everyone in the company understand the vision, the values and the mission? Can they tell you how what they do relates to accomplishing the vision? If not, you need to clarify those things for yourself and for your employees.

Create Opportunities for Growth and Development
If an employee finds work to be challenging with opportunities for personal and professional growth, job satisfaction increases. Promote from within when you can. Vary job assignments and offer opportunities to work on special projects beyond the scope of their normal jobs. Split jobs into different levels offering increasing leadership. Help them develop their personal and professional leadership abilities through workshops or coaching.

Managers Must be Good Leaders
Employees always work harder for good leaders. Good leaders can be developed, but it must be intentional. Make sure you and your managers are well trained. People respond to managers they can trust and can inspire them to achieve their goals.

Scholz and Associates works with companies large and small on improving hiring processes, developing top performers and strategic planning. Give us a call for more information.