10 Reasons Why Executive Hiring Goes Wrong
In the ever-evolving business landscape, securing the right talent remains a perpetual puzzle. Despite good intentions, it is impossible to turn hiring into science. Like other executive search firms, we are often called in because a high-level executive hiring has failed. Why? The reasons can be quite diverse:
1. Hiring for the past. Most job openings are the result of a firing or resignation and the temptation is big to focus the search on the familiar personality and skills of the predecessor rather than on the job’s requirements in the future.
2. Delegation. Most top executives want to make hiring decisions personally, and rightly so. However, sometimes they delegate the writing of the job description. This is ok if the people writing the job description are properly briefed and if top managers remained involved in the hiring process. If not, the recruitment process can go very wrong.
3. Unrealistic specifications. Sometimes, job descriptions are so unrealistic, only superheroes could fit the bill. The result is that the search universe becomes very small. And it may leave out the best candidates who might have the essential mix of skills needed for success even if they don’t meet all the specifications.
4. Evaluating people in absolute terms. Assessing candidates in absolute terms can be misleading. Rigid judgments are risky. Nuanced evaluations using leadership assessments professional tools lead to more informed hiring decisions.
5. Accepting people at face value. Candidates are almost always taken at face value, although we all know that during a job interview people put their best selves forward. Leadership assessments are very important to spot potential problems.
6. References. Reference check needs to be done in a professional manner, digging where there are doubts and asking questions on the weak points, as reflected by the leadership assessments. If the recruiter is spot on a potential problem, the person giving the reference will not lie for the candidate.
7. The similarity bias. The most pervasive bias of all is the tendency to highly rate people who are just like you. When we praise people similar to ourselves, after all, we reinforce our self-worth.
8. Unstructured interviews. The interviewer has to ask well-prepared questions designed to reveal the candidate’s competencies. The interview often includes difficult or uncomfortable questions, and it must be carefully planned and executed. The cost of an unstructured interview is invisible: rejecting a highly qualified candidate who simply didn’t excel at chitchat.
9. Ignoring emotional intelligence. We've all heard of emotional intelligence, but spotting it in others is like finding a needle in a haystack. Making matters harder still, every job requires different emotional competencies. The leadership assessment and relevant questions during the interview can solve this problem.
10. Political pressures. The last hiring trap is the most pervasive and daunting of them all. Indeed, the most spectacular hiring mistakes I have seen have been the result of well-meaning people who just happen to have agendas. Politics is very common and pernicious in hiring and it can very quickly make a good recruitment derail.
In a landscape where hiring mistakes can have far-reaching consequences, understanding and avoiding these common pitfalls is essential. By embracing a proactive, nuanced approach, businesses can elevate their talent acquisition strategies, ensuring they attract and retain the right talent for sustained success.
Follow Amrop Luxembourg where we delve deeper into each one of the pitfalls by sharing stories from our practice on the 10 situations that could make recruitment go wrong.
This article was originally published in Delano magazine.