Top Startup Mistakes: Screwing Up Hiring - CateCosta.com | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by CateCosta under Human Resources
From http://www.catecosta.com 3684 days ago
Made Hot by: fundpr on October 13, 2014 2:56 am

When you’re building a business, your team is everything. Who you hire will make or break your success. A great hire can add incredible value to your company and free you up to focus on your real strengths while a bad hire can tank your business by costing you time, money, and customers. That’s why the phrase “hire slow; fire fast,” is so popular.

Despite knowing this, however, messing up the hiring process is one of the most common causes of stress and even failure for new businesses, so here are some tips to prevent you from blowing in your business:

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Comments

Written by ShawnHessinger
3679 days ago

Hi Cate,

I'm sure I'll catch flack for this, but I'd like to take at least partial issue with two points here. First, having worked at companies where the "fire fast" mantra has been taken to extremes, I have to say there are many managers, and I suspect entrepreneurs, who don't know the difference between a bad hire and one that simply needs time to develop. As a result, these companies end up with a revolving door or hires and fires leading to poor morale and a horrible reputation in their industry. Second, I understand the need to hire for attitude as well as skills. But this does not mean you can ignore the need for basic competence. In the tech sector you need someone who has the prerequisite skills to actually achieve the needed results. The same goes for many other fields. Be careful about being seduced by the idea that a positive personality or fitting into your company culture will make basic competency irrelevant. Make this mistake and you'll end up hiring again or contracting out for someone to do the same job you initially hired someone else to do.

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Written by CateCosta
3678 days ago

Hi Shawn:

I hope you don't catch flack for your comment because you're absolutely right. I completely agree with you, I guess I just wasn't clear in my video.

When I talk about the importance of firing fast, I didn't mean to imply that any new employee who isn't perfect should be immediately let go. I have also worked in organizations where they fired far too easily, killing morale and productivity. In fact, it was just such a situation (combined with many other issues) that led me to quit a job and venture out on my own. I do, however, mean to say that if someone wasn't honest about their qualifications, doesn't show up when they're supposed to, doesn't want to be held accountable, etc. then there is no reason to keep them on.

In terms of finding someone that is a good fit for the company culture, I certainly don't mean this to imply that skills are not important. The goal should be to find someone that has both the necessary skills and the desired personality...that's tough to find sometimes, but that's why you should give enough time for hiring to be able to find the right person. I only meant to imply that the desired skills were just the baseline and then you also needed to consider other factors, not that the desired skills were not important.

Thanks for pointing out that my video wasn't clear and giving me the opportunity to clarify!

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