While some firms are busy reacting to the economic downturn, progressive organizations are thinking one step ahead – toward the recovery. They’re looking to the future, where they hope to emerge as more profitable and prestigious. Many are using these dark times to search out the brightest talent. They’re trolling competitive waters, scouting top universities and even looking globally for tomorrow’s A-team.
But in the rush to upgrade talent, many firms are finding that those who are “perfect on paper” can be completely wrong for the job. And when Mr. or Ms. Right turns out to be anything but, the hiring firm’s economic and social landscape can start looking pretty bleak.
Wondering how to judge the potential of those who are ‘perfect on paper’ versus those who may actually turn out to be high performers? Think about this…
Smart People Can Be Overrated: Before his name was synonymous with corruption and mismanagement, Ken Lay was known as a hoarder of Wharton M.B.A.s “The only thing that differentiates Enron from our competitors is our people, our talent,” he famously boasted. His firm recruited ceaselessly, searching for and poaching top performers and then compensating them lavishly. However, with all the brains behind the business, it still crashed and burned, and took Arthur Anderson, many innocent employees and stockholders along for the ride. In stark contrast, there are firms like Southwest Airlines. It hires very few M.B.A.s, pays its managers modestly, and gives raises according to seniority, not title. It is ranked as one of the most successful of all US airlines.
Extroverts are NOT the “gold standard”: Read any job posting for a leadership positions and you will note requirements such as: ability to negotiate, strong social skills, must be able to present and defend work and other personality traits associated with extroverted personalities. However, study after study suggests that introverts excel in many areas of life, and often making better managers. It’s time for HR to recognize and value the less obvious but quite valuable traits of introverts.
Psychopaths are Brilliant Liars: At a conference in 2002, Criminal Psychologist Robert Hare met with law enforcement, and during a slide presentation projected images of mafia hit men and sex offenders on the wall. Soon those pix gave way to white collar criminals including CEO & CFOs, who displayed 20 typical traits of psychopaths, including: profound lack of empathy; callous treatment of others for their own end; charm masking true nature, master cons artists and heartless manipulators.
Hare believes that much corporate scandal could be prevented if more HR departments used skilled recruiters to verify and challenge questionable findings. He suggests that hiring teams work together as co-interviewers, share findings and discuss possible discrepancies and deceptions before an offer is made. These group decisions do much to remove the psychopath’s advantage in manipulating through charm and lying.
The Best Candidates May be Right Under Your Nose: Matthew Bidwell, assistant professor at Wharton, studied the costs associated with hiring employees from outside, versus promoting internal candidates. He found, “In addition to scoring worse on performance reviews, external hires were 61% more likely to be fired from their new jobs than were those who had been promoted from within the firm. “ He noted that external hires tended to look better on paper than the internal candidates, but Bidwell points out that employers need to appreciate how vital it is for their staff “to know the ropes of an organization.”
Is your company on a kick to “upgrade talent?” If so, please share your advice or insight. And if you need to explore the potential success or failure of a candidate for a particular job, reach out to Consultnetworx for a Complimentary Staffing Strategy at 973-309-5474 or email gmiller@consultnetworx.com
The group discussions you mention are vital to the hiring process. Many costly hiring mistakes could be avoided if a more organized team approach were implemented at all levels of recruiting. A psychopathic Admin has the potential to be just as dangerous to an organization as the hiring of a heartless and manipulative executive.