Insight Blog

According to some statistics, the mis-hire of an average employee can cost 4 to 6 times the individual's annual compensation and the mis-hire of a senior executive can cost as much as 24 times the employee's compensation. So, what can you do to try to prevent a senior executive mis-hire?

There are  many different strategies that can be implemented to avoid such a costly mistake, but they require proper planning first and foremost because they begin before you enter the interview process.

Before interviewing candidates, carefully consider the following:

1. Clearly define the position's responsibilities so that each candidate will be measured by the same parameters and so that each interviewer understands the role.

2. Outline the position's performance expectations.

3. Consider the qualities / technical skills of an ideal candidate regarding competencies, education and experience.

4. Create structured interview questions to determine a candidate's technical skills and experience.

5. Develop a formal interview feedback process that must be followed by everyone who is interviewing the candidate.

6. Assess your company's culture and determine the "ideal" cultural fit.

7. Benchmark positive traits of high-performing executives on your management team so that you can recognize them in a candidate.

8. Benchmark the negative traits and qualities of previous mis-hires to be on the lookout for those same attributes in future potential candidates.

9. Develop performance milestones for 30, 60 and 90 days.

While these pre-interview steps can be extremely beneficial and worth your time, of course there are additional issues to consider and steps you must take during the interview process to effectively prevent a mis-hire.