When you make a bad hire, what annoys you the most:
- Loss of productivity (The company is now even further behind schedule)
- Loss of money invested in hiring candidate
- Potential damage (unhappy clients) due to failed hire
- Own time being wasted. (Training, onboarding, etc)
- Your own and staff’s ability to judge a good hire being off
- All of the above
Amazingly, everyone selected “F” as their answer.
Wherever I get “buyers remorse” after hiring a candidate, I blame myself and wonder what I should have done differently. After a long career in HR and in Sales, I thought my internal lie-detector was much better than the job seeker’s ability to lie. I second-guess myself as to what questions I should have asked in the interview, what clues I did not pick up on. Did my desperation to hire someone cause me to convince myself that the candidate was a great fit? I am as guilty as all of us in making the same mistakes.
Fortunately, running a job board gives me a very large network of hiring professionals which I often turn to for advice. Here are some of the tips I use and have been suggested to me by very experienced and capable hiring managers.
Disclaimer: None of these tips are proof that the applicant is going to make for a bad hire. Just little warning signs and to proceed with caution.
This first list is for pre-Interview warning signs after you have identified the person as worthy of being invited for an interview. I trust you have screened the application for unexplained gaps in employment history, fabrications, spelling/grammar errors, not being qualified, etc. If not, read our other article here about what to look for during that step.
Pre-Interview
1 – Rescheduling – After confirming with the applicant on a mutually convenient time to hold the interview, please take caution if you are asked to reschedule the interview, especially if the person is giving less than a day’s notice. I am very weary of when there is a “family emergency.”
It could be true, but it rarely is and I would be careful. I immediately suspect that the job seeker has landed a “more important” interview than yours. You are not his/her first choice in employers or the candidate would be making more of an effort. Do not be surprised if this person takes himself/herself out of consideration later in the process.
2 – Power dynamic in interview scheduling – If the applicant mentions that she needs to have the interview on a specific day or time because she has “multiple offers“, take a pass. This person is trying to show how high the demand is for her services and trying to influence the power dynamic, possibly to demand a higher starting salary or other similar concessions.
Mentioning that one has certain responsibilities and asks for consideration in scheduling is perfectly normal. For example, I can’t get out of work until 6pm so could we have the interview later in the evening or possibly on the weekend?
Interestingly enough, I see this happening more in the English teaching industry than I do in other industries which really surprises me. Sure, there is a lack of qualified English teachers with native-level abilities; however, there is also a lack of qualified programmers and system engineers who don’t act that way.
For your enjoyment, the following was the last paragraph on a job seeker’s cover letter in attempt to take control.
3 – Abrupt replies / Overly casual in e-mail communication – If I get a “What’s up?”, “Hello there” or in a casual tone, I go on to the next candidate. Having good manners is critical when this person may be in front of customers in their role and, especially in a Japanese context, should behave appropriately.
While some might think that this is overly harsh, you don’t have the time to teach your staff how to behave politely, and it definitely isn’t your responsibility. This kind of candidate will probably be a bit of a liability as they get in trouble with customers for their lack of respect.
Long time in replying to emails – How quickly does your company answer customer inquiries? Do you think your clients would find it acceptable if you waited a few days to get back to them or at least acknowledge their correspondence?
I would say that it is unacceptable for eager job seekers to wait days to answer my messages about potentially giving them a job. Most people’s smartphones are like an appendage to their body so I am sure the job seeker has seen your message, and a delayed reply may just show that you are not on the top of their list. I’d rather go with someone who may be less qualified, but is excited about working at my company.
Check their credentials, then their Social Media – Obvious but wanted to mention just in case. How does the person’s resume match up with their LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram profiles? Have you checked to see if they actually worked where they say they worked? So many hiring managers miss this crucial step and think that it would just be too hard to get away with if someone lies about a workplace they were at. A quick phone call can sort this out, and perhaps even give you insight into why the person left their previous company. Check recommendations with the actual person in case they were forged. You would be surprised how often people write their own recommendations.
Next, check to see if they regularly post outrageous or controversial comments or attack people viciously online on social media. If they do, seriously consider if you want to bring someone who is highly political into your workplace. Nothing will ruin a workplace’s morale faster or more totally than having to deal with daily political infighting about the latest news story.
In summary – I hope this helps you detect and avoid a potential hire if they have passed your criteria for even getting invited to your job.
In the next article, I will mention some of the red flags seen during the interview, post-interview and some tips to see if the candidate is lazy.
Happy hunting.
