27 Jun How to avoid hiring the wrong person for the job.
Hiring the wrong person for the job can cause serious damage to your team and your company. That one employee’s toxic nature can spread in your company and inside your team like a virus.
Never hire a superstar that is toxic.
Its never worth it to hire a person for the job who is extremely skilled but highly toxic. He might contribute both positively and negatively to the organisation. Trust me it always works out more negative than positive.
Academics and experience is important and so is character.
If a candidate has impressed you with his academics then you also need to evaluate his character. The problem today is that there is not easy way to evaluate a persons character unlike academics. But do this a couple of times and you will master to skill the identify the black sheep from the crowd.
Ask your team.
Get your team involved. If you have hired some amazing people at your company, they are the best people to judge if they the new guy will make a good fit into the organisation and its culture. After all its the team that has to work with this person. Always trust your team to give honest feedback. It can save them tons of time dealing with the wrong person for the job.
Never hire spontaneously.
Have a process to hire the right people. Carefully draft your process and never deviate. Hiring spontaneously will always result in a bad toxic hire. Take time to evaluate the candidate for the job no matter how urgent your task might be. You might as well spend time in getting the right person for the job than being stuck with the wrong person who gets everything messed up.
Get feedback.
Always check with as many references as possible. Such as previous employers, family and friends, colleges etc. It never hurts to ask. This might save you a ton of money.
Get honest feedback from the team during the interview, at regular review meetings and finally during the exit. You can always learn from your mistakes. This is one way to learn and master the skill.
Toxic people turn out to be very very expensive.
Toxic people are like carriers of common cold in the company. They might be excellent at their job but at the same time can infect the rest of your organisation very quickly. They cause huge amounts of damage to your office culture and this can be very difficult to measure.
Identify, isolate and let go.
Always look out for such people. You will see that a pattern emerges eventually. Identify such people, slowly isolate them and let them go. Trust me you will saving a lot of time and money the earlier you do this. Turing a blind eye will result in your whole team getting infected.
You will always find someone better if you look hard enough.
You will always find someone better for the job it you look hard enough. Always act quickly. It might save your entire team. Take a decision and stick to it. You can always find another person, it is better than replacing your entire team.
Better late than never.
If you have identified such people in your company. Take calls quickly and contain the toxicity. It never too late to work with people that you absolutely love.
