MANAGER FLOPS

Hiring Managers - The Major Flops

I've seen it time and time again both in my recruiting career and as a client-side employee... Hiring managers aren't hiring to strengths but to resume experience and tunnel vision on that candidate alone.

When interviewing candidates, you MUST be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your team not just at the projects in the pipeline or the candidate sitting in front of you. If you end up bringing on an employee who excels in client presentations, strategic thinking, and process implementation onto a team where that is not a need or where another team member is dominant in those areas, don't hire the candidate. Unless, you want to upgrade a current employee to be replaced.

Now, on the flip-side, if you end up doing a great job and hiring for team balance but neglect to inform the veteran team member of WHY you are bringing someone else on, that new person is going to have one hell of a time gaining respect from their coworker especially if that veteran is intimidated or thinks this new person is operating as their junior. 

COMMON MISCONCEPTION: People don't just want to land a job... they want to land a job that is going to be satisfying. If you bring a person onboard but don't quite know how the fit into the business model you've created, you are setting that person up for potential major failure. That is not only going to harm your company but that individual personally... you could end up majorly impacting their career development. 

That said, take pride in your interview methods and really understand what your team lacks and how you can create balance there. Then, pay close attention to how that is working... if some shifting around needs to happen DO IT.

Play to the strengths of your employees just as you would if you were coaching a sports team. If you have a wide receiver playing a lineman - shit is going to go down and someone is going to get hurt.