Ten Biggest Hiring Mistakes

Prior to publishing our book, “You’re NOT The Person I Hired” we conducted an in-depth study of hiring practices in 134 different companies in the manufacturing, high-tech, distribution, retail
and service industries. The study examined 225 executive-level hires to
determine what worked well, what didn’t work well, and where most
companies tend to stumble.
Among its many findings, the study identified ten common hiring mistakes
that plague companies of all sizes. You can get the complete survey for free by clicking here

Three Causal Factors contributed greatly to the root cause of these mistakes:

In most cases, the finding suggested these hiring mistakes are not
caused by willful ignorance or negligence. Rather, hires that fail to
produce the desired results are most often the result of a predictable
combination of causal factors, including:

1) Inadequate preparation. The company fails to take the time to
outline a detailed, measurable definition of “success” that can
be used to source, evaluate and select candidates. Instead,
most hiring organizations rely on outdated or insufficient job
specs that merely list desired attributes, educational attainment
and other minimally useful criteria.

2) Lack of information. Many hiring managers lack the information
and training to hire effectively at the executive level.

3) Human nature. Interpersonal situations like interviews are often
guided primarily by gut feelings. The hiring team that has not
been trained to minimize these distractions is easily influenced
by preconscious perceptions and nonverbal cues.

In most cases it’s a lack of replicable hiring process to improve outcomes.

An Methodology for Success

The solution.

All that’s required is a structured approach that enables companies to
avoid the predictable pitfalls that plague many high-level hires. Based
on our experience hiring thousands of executives, we have developed a
methodology that consists of eight distinct steps:

1. Build a multi-faceted Success Factor Snapshot to guide the entire
search process.
2. Implement a deep sourcing strategy to reach and attract selective
and sleeper candidates.
3. Identify and verify success prospects.
4. Create structured dossiers on selected candidates to enable objective,
unbiased evaluation and comparison.
5. Conduct Success Factor-based panel interviews using a
“magnifying glass” probe methodology.
6. Proactively address and overcome obstacles to hire throughout the
entire active interviewing process.
7. Streamline compensation and benefit negotiations through structured
interview-based preliminary groundwork.
8. Follow through on the hire with proven transition communication
and work style assessment, coaching and facilitation.

Together, these steps comprise the “Success Factor Methodology,” (the content for our book, and our on-site hiring course ), a proven process for improving your ability to find, recruit and hire toplevel
executive talent. Each step in the process requires the full collaboration
of stakeholders in all the business units affected by the potential
hire. But when you employ the methodology in a consistent and systematic
manner, the outcome is a hire with a significantly increased
likelihood of long-term success.

For more information on building a successful hiring process visit our website at www.impacthiringsolutions.com

If you found this helpful please share with others. Also, please leave a comment to let us know if we are helping. Even, thanks, helpful, interesting or a short note is appreciated.

Hiring Frustration #1: What Am I Measuring?

Most Job Descriptions are Worthless as a tool for predicting future success!

MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS

Most job descriptions define nothing more than minimum, average, and mediocre standards. If the goal is to hire top talent, then you must be able to define the expectations of top talent. Consider the fact that the vast majority of job descriptions define years of experience needed in the job, minimum educational requirements, skills and knowledge needed, generic and undefined attributes and behaviors. This is not a job description. It has nothing to do with the job. It’s a people description. And the worst news of all is that it defines minimum-average-mediocre expectations not top talent expectations.

RANDOM RESULTS

Not only is this the NUMBER ONE frustration among hiring managers and executives, it is also the NUMBER ONE reason hiring fails. In presenting to over 30,000 hiring executives and managers in the last two decades, most of those workshop participants have told us their track record in hiring is abou 50/50. Sometimes they hire good people and sometimes they don’t.

How can you have any decent level of business success when you’re results are basically random. You might as well be standing at the crap tables in Vegas throwing dice. Is there any other process in your business where you will accept that level of random variability – such as your payroll checks or the bills you send to customers? Probably not! Then why do most managers and executives accept random results from hiring.

There are a number of reasons, but topping the list is the frustration and mistake over not defining success. Most hiring executives and managers would contend that they do not understand how to define results, expectations, outcomes, and deliverables that can be used as a predictive approach to determining the success of a potential candidate. Since most do not have a method for determing/defining success, they fall back on the tribal approach of using a traditional job description – a document that has existed from the early days of human resource management.

A BETTER APPROACH TO DEFINING SUCCESS

A better approach is to define outcomes, deliverables, and expectations that link back to the team, group, department, and company/organizational goals and objectives. NOT defining the outcomes is an abdication of strong management and leadership.

We use an approach in our Success Factor Methodology called S.O.A.R, which provides a structured approach to defining success. After having “field-tested” this approach and methodology for the last two decades, we’ve seen thousands of companies dramatically improve their hiring accuracy and ability to hire candidates who deliver the results desired.

RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED IN DEFINING SUCCESS

Our S.O.A.R. template can help guide you through the process of defining success for any role within your company.

There are multiple FREE examples of Success Factor Snapshots using the S.O.A.R. approach in our FREE Resources Library.

In our Internet Radio Programs for Hiring Managers, Tele-Conferences, and Webinars, Brad and are constantly sharing ideas, thoughts, and strategies around using Success-based Job Definitions to improve hiring and retention. Take a look at some of the FREE downloads in our Hiring Manager Audio Library.

DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO HIRE TOP TALENT?

Does your company define quantifiable and time-based outcomes, deliverables, and expectations before the first candidate is interviewed, let alone hired?

Common Frustrations in Hiring Top Talent

Over the last 20 plus years, Brad and I have presented our You’re NOT the Person I Hired workshop to over 30,000 managers and executives in well over 1500 presentations. We usually kick off the workshop by asking “What are your greatest frustrations in hiring?“

Interestingly enough, we’ve heard the same frustrations of two decades very time we present this workshop. It doesn’t seem to matter if the company has 60,000 employees globally or 60 in Los Angeles. It doesn’t matter if the company manufactures a product, imports components, provides a service – the frustrations are still the same when it comes to hiring top talent.

We’ve put a list together of these frustrations on our website and the solutions in how to overcome each one. In subsequent blog posts, we’ll examine each one of the most frustrations in more depth.

Here’s the list we’ll review in our future postings:

1. Common Frustration #1 – What am I measuring
2. Common Frustration #2 – Not enough candidates
3. Common Frustration #3 – Exaggeration and Lies
4. Common Frustration #4 – No Hiring Process
5. Common Frustration #5 – Poor Cultural Fit
6. Common Frustration #6 – Useless Evaluation
7. Common Frustration #7 – First Impression Victim
8. Common Frustration #8 – You’re Not the Person

Do you have any frustrations in hiring that are not on this list?

Why is there such a high degree of frustration by hiring managers regarding the hiring process?

Barry

The Most Important Part of the Interview Starts Before the Interview

First impressions interfere with objectivity and distort the interviewing process.

The key to emotional preparation is to recognize the power of first impressions and take conscious steps to minimize its impact on the overall interview.

A first impression is a natural human reaction. It is unavoidable. No matter how you prepare, you are going to react in an instant to superficial physical characteristics and personal mannerisms. Sometimes the first impression will be negative, sometimes positive. Regardless, the first impression rarely correlates with reality.

As professional recruiters and interviewers, we confess that we too still struggle with the power of a first impression— positive and negative. However, as professionals, we’ve learned how to recognize and then minimize the impact. We’ve learned that focusing on what the candidate needs to accomplish in the position and working with a structured interviewing methodology, we can achieve a very high level of objectivity in the assessment of talent.

Effective interviewers learn to tame their surface impressions. The only difference between us and many hiring managers is that we have learned to set our first impressions aside, regardless of whether it was positive or negative, and conduct a thorough in-depth probing interview. Then at the end of the interview we look back and decide if the first impression is still relevant. To our surprise many times that first impression is wrong.

When a hiring manager first meets a candidate that makes a strong first impression this will often influence the tone of the interview. It is not uncommon for the hiring manager to start asking soft ball or leading questions. This is particularly true if the hiring manager is desperate to fill the position.

Try this exercise to reduce the power of the first impression. Ask everyone in your company who is involved in the interviewing process to make a list of what influences their first impression. Often things like, weak handshake, eye contact, soft voice, quiet, not assertive, et cetera, will be on the list. Once your managers know what triggers the first impression, they will then be more aware of influence on the interview.

Next work on training them to set that first impression aside until the end of the interview. After the interview then revisit the first impression. Only then determine if it is still relevant. Have them answer this question, “Will the first impression impact the candidate’s ability to deliver the results required by the position?”

It has been our experience that many companies lose good candidates and often don’t hire the right or best candidate simply because of a poor first impression. Interestingly, often the thing that causes the negative first impression has nothing to do with being successful once in the job. For example, a firm handshake maybe important for a sales person, but should it be for a programmer? We think “not.” However, often because of this negative first impression the interviewer doesn’t conduct a thorough probing interview. Why would they, they have already made up their mind this person is not a good fit. And they haven’t even left the lobby.

Train yourself and all the others on your interviewing team about the power of the first impression.Then train yourself and your team (and it will take training), to set the first impression aside until after the interview. Doing this one thing can dramatically improve the interviewing process in your company.

In our book, “You’re NOT The Person I Hired” this topic is so important we dedicated multiple chapters to interviewing and how to ensure your team become outstanding interviewers.

If this was helpful, please forward it on. If you have any comments we welcome those as well.

Brad Remillard

Can Your Company Save Thousands Through HR Outsourcing?

Listen to our podcast from our Live Internet Radio Show on LATALKRADIO.com regarding HR Outsourcing.

Can your company save thousands by outsourcing HR.  Jeff Stinson, President of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO), discusses all the reasons if you are a CEO you should consider this option. HR is becoming more and more complex. The legal fees companies are paying can often be eliminated with a littler prevention. Jeff  has been a VPHR for a Fortune 500 company and he brings that expertise and knowledge to this show. Investing 50 minutes to listen can save you thousands.

To hear our podcast on the advantages of HR Outsourcing by our Expert Guest, Jeff Stinson, you can either listen immediately to the radio show or download it from our FREE Hire and Retain Top Talent Audio Library.

Selecting from the “Cream of the Crap”

Does this sound like your hiring process:

A position opens up in your company and the scrambling to fill it ASAP begins. A job description is quickly written by the hiring manager, it gets approval, then HR takes the job description and reformats it into an ad. HR then posts the ad on the different job boards, Monster, Careerbuilder, Hotjobs, Craiglist, Ladders and maybe a few others. A couple of weeks go by, you receive hundreds of resumes, spend nights and weekends reviewing them, whittle the pile down to 20 or so and start interviewing. After weeks of interviewing you have 3 possible candidates, one so-so, one okay if no one is better and one back up candidate. Not willing to compromise you ask HR to rerun the ad and the process starts all over again. You get the same results and do it again for the third time. The position has now been open for 2 or 3 months, work is backing up, long hours are stressing you and your staff, mistakes are happening and projects are being put off. After all this time and energy you have three good solid below average candidates. At this point something is better than nothing. You are desperate. So you do what we refer to as “pick the tallest pygmy.” You settle and ultimately hire the “cream of the crap” or the “best of the worst.” After 6 months things aren’t working out and you are asking yourself, “Why did I hire this person?” It is now time to either hold them accountable, manage tough or start the process all over again.

In our best selling book on hiring top talent, we refer to this methodology as, “crap shoot hiring.” Its like rolling the dice and hoping you hit the number. Companies often run ads, cross their fingers and hope a great candidate will be motivated to respond to the posting. It just rarely happens that way. More often than not great candidates are turned off by company ads. Top talent read these ads and think, “I already have that job. Why do I want to respond to this posting?” So the only candidates that respond are those that are actively seeking a new position or unemployed. Sometimes companies do hit the jackpot and a great candidate responds, however, they are often off the market before most companies get through the stack of resumes.

If you want to attract top talent you have to understand what motivates top talent. Similar to advertising for customers, the ad must be about them, not you. Most job postings are a list of demands that are all about the company and nothing about what is in it for the candidate. Consider creating what we refer to as a “Compelling Marketing Statement.” (Click Here for some examples)

There are three things that all top talent is looking for:

1) Top talent always want to be learning. They thrive on expanding their knowledge. Growth is not just moving up in a company. Growth has to be personal. They have to be challenged, given opportunities to learn, take on new projects outside their normal function, be stretched and be learning something new.

2) Top talent need to make an impact. Maintenance roles are not for top talent. Companies have to ensure that top talent have the opportunity to really impact the organization. They want to improve earnings, open new offices, introduce new products, grow a business to new heights or take on a project that will change the company.

3) Top talent want to become something bigger than what they are. Maslow came up with this in the 50’s. He called it self-actualization. Top talent strive to be something more. They want to be all they can be. Personal growth is critical and if their personal growth flattens out they immediately start seeking a position that will continue their growth.

If candidates don’t seek these, then by definition they are not top talent.

What this means is if you want to attract top talent you have to motivate them. Posting the boring job description doesn’t address any of these issues. You need to think like a Madison Ave. advertising company that knows to display the benefits to the reader. Here are three things you can do to motivate top talent in your ad:

1) Include the vision of your company. The goals, objectives, and where the company is going. Top talent want to be a part of a growing, energetic company that has a vision.

2) Don’t list duties and responsibilities. Instead discuss how they will contribute to the vision, provide challenges that will ensure they learn and how this role will help them reach their goals. This is what excites top talent and differentiates you from the thousands of jobs listed on the board.

3) Challenge them with specific objectives they will accomplish. This is the learning and growing that all top talent want to achieve.

Top talent will then read your ad and think to themselves, “That’s what I’ve been looking for. That is what is missing in my current position and company.”

Remember top talent could care less about what you want. They are interested in “what’s in it for me.” Post an ad that demonstrates that and top talent will start responding to your ads.

For more information on how to attract top talent visit our website at www.impacthiringsolutions.com

If you found this helpful please forward to someone else and consider leaving us your thoughts.

5 Questions That Identify Top Talent

As a way of helping our clients, we often participate with them in interviews. It is not uncommon for clients to ask us to interview candidates they have surfaced on their own. Over my 20+ years as a recruiter, I have participated in hundreds and maybe thousands of interviews. The one thing they all have in common is many of the same questions are asked over and over again. When I ask the client why they asked that question the answers vary from “couldn’t think of anything else and I need to fill time’ to “ that question was asked of me when I interviewed.” The interesting thing about these questions is they rarely have anything to do with the candidate’s ability to perform in the job or how they would perform in my client’s company culture. They are of throw away questions.

Companies want to hire the best and the brightest, however, the interviewing process and questions rarely identify the characteristics of a top performer. The interviewer assumes that if they did it before and were successful they will be successful in our company. The interviewer misses the point that the candidate needs to be able to adapt those past accomplishments to their company’s culture and their company’s resources. Just because someone was a great performer in their last company, doesn’t mean they are the right person for your company.

We have identified 5 characteristics that all top performers possess and 5 questions you can ask in an interview to determine if these characteristics are present and if they can adapt them to your company( see our book You’re NOT The Person I Hired). These 5 are: top performers have high initiative, they execute, they have the ability to motivate others; they have a track record of delivering comparable results and they can adapt that performance to your environment.

The question to ask are:

1) Give me an example of where you have demonstrated initiative? Top performers take initiative, they don’t wait for it to come to them. Top performers will step up to the plate and be ready to perform. Taking initiative is second nature to them.

2) Give me an example of when you executed a project flawlessly? Failure to execute is one of the top reasons people fail. The ability to get the job done regardless of obstacles that come up along the way is a key trait of top performers. This doesn’t mean perfect results, just that hey didn’t get distracted and lose sight of deadlines, budget, conflicts, etc.

The third question deals with leadership.

3) Tell me about your biggest team accomplishment in a difficult time or situation? Top performers get the job done by utilizing the talents of others. No one can do it all. Top performers know this and leading a team is something they are good at. We are all good leaders in good times. The best leaders are able to motivate people even when circumstances aren’t good. Also, ask for an example of leading cross functional teams.

The last two questions begin to test the candidate’s ability to get the job done. Comparable accomplishments are important to the candidate’s success in your company. These accomplishments must be similar in scope and size.

4) One of our critical objectives is (explain a critical problem they will address in this position.) Can you describe your most comparable accomplishment? A track record of delivering similar accomplishments over an extended period of time is a critical component of a top performer. Top performance is not a one time event. You want to insure the person you hire has a track record of accomplishments similar in scope to what defines success in your position.

The final question deals with the candidate’s ability to adapt these experiences to your environment and culture.

5) How would you go about implementing (pick a project important to this position) in our company? Things rarely go as planned. Top performers must be able to adapt to different circumstances. Change is a given. What counts is – can they change – with the change. They must be able to adapt their past accomplishments to your environment, culture management style and to your company’s resources. If they can’t then regardless of everything else they won’t be successful in your company.

Then probe deeply to ensure they actually did what they claim. These 5 questions alone will tell you if you have top talent

For help with interviewing or any hiring assistance visit our website at WWW.IMPACTHIRINGSOLUTIONS.COM

Overcoming the Second Biggest Hiring Mistake

The sole purpose of an employment interview is to investigate whether the candidate can succeed in the open position. Uncovering that information requires a rigorous, disciplined interview process that leaves no question unasked and no stone unturned.

Yet, according to a research study we conducted the second most common hiring mistake at the executive level involves just the opposite.

In too many cases, executive hires involve a sloppy, undisciplined process that fails to put candidates under the magnifying glass, verify claims or check facts. And when hiring managers accept at face value everything candidates say during job interviews, a bad hiring decision almost always follows.

“In our workshops and training sessions, we routinely ask executives what percentage of job applicants embellish or exaggerate their accomplishments during the interview?” In most cases, we hear a number from 100 to 125 percent, because many candidates embellish more than once.

Granted, not every job candidate is guilty of what we call “interview puffery,” but it does happen on a regular basis. And unless you take adequate steps to guard against it, you can easily end up with a hiring decision that ends in failure.

So what is the solution to eliminating candidate puffery and avoiding hiring mistake #2?

Become a great interview detective and that requires a rigorous probing process.

Put The Candidate Under the Magnifying Glass

To validate the candidate’s answers to the five key questions, we recommend the “Magnifying Glass” approach, a technique that involves asking for multiple examples of each answer to make sure the behavior isn’t the exception to the rule.

Put on your reporter’s hat and ask ‘who, what, when, where and why and how’ questions. In other words, ask candidates to describe, in specific terms, who did what, where and when they did it, how they did it and why they did it that way. Then ask for the outcome/results to determine if their approach succeeded.

Examples of generic magnifying glass questions include:

Could you give me an example of that?
Can you be more specific about that?
Can you give me a bit more information about that?
What were the most important details about that situation?
Tell me about another time when you faced a similar situation.

The idea is to gather as many specific details as possible about each key question. To drill down further, ask questions more focused questions, such as:

What was your role in the project?
How did you define and measure success?
Can you give me a few examples of your personal initiative on the project?
When have you faced a comparable challenge?
How did you and the team make mid-course corrections?
What did you learn from this project?
With the benefit of hindsight, what would you do differently next time?

Be prepared to spend 15 to 30 minutes exploring the details of each example the candidate gives you. Keep going until you uncover what you need to know or it become apparent the candidate is being elusive or outright lying, at which point you might as well cut your losses and end the interview.

Your goal is to assess their analytical, problem solving and presentation skills in your work environment.

Successful interviewing is all about drilling down and getting to the facts. By asking for example after example, you will discover a critical truth about the interviewing process — that candidates can’t make up false answers quickly enough. They have either done what they say they have done and can describe it in infinite detail, or they will implode in front of you.

To ensure that your interviewing process uncovers the information you need to know, ask the five key questions (see our book You’re NOT The Person I Hired) probe for relevant details and give a meaningful homework assignment. You will get a very accurate picture of the candidate’s ability to perform on the job and, more important, you’ll make better hiring decisions.

Traditional Job Descriptions Don’t Attract Top Talent

Over the last 20 plus years of recruiting, we have reviewed hundreds of job descriptions from a wide variety of companies and for a wide variety of positions. The vast majority of these job descriptions have the same format. They list the responsibilities, duties and experience required. It is a one size-fits-all, generic job description. Traditional job descriptions are useful documents that meet legal requirements, but they should not be used for hiring purposes.

There are two reasons why these job descriptions are ineffective as a hiring tool. The first reason is traditional job descriptions describe the minimal qualifications required for the position, such as minimal education, minimal years of experience, and minimal skills. This often leads to hiring the least qualified from the pool of qualified candidates. The harsh reality is when you define a job in mediocre terms, odds are you will attract and hire mediocre candidates.

The second reason is traditional job descriptions fail to focus on what defines success in this role. Most people would agree that a person who just performs the duties and responsibilities outlined in traditional job descriptions would rarely be considered a success. In fact, most candidates would not last long in a company that is growing and outpacing the competition. Just because the person has the experience listed doesn’t mean they can deliver the desired results. Here’s the misnomer, past experiences are a good indicator of future performance. Past experience is actually a poor indicator of performance. Past performance is a better indicator, but the best indicator is their ability to deliver results in your company. After all, you are hiring for your company, not for what they did at a past company. Of all the traditional job descriptions reviewed over the years, few if any mention future expectations.

For example, how many times have you heard someone say: “We’re looking for a VP Operations” The reply is “What are you looking for.” The typical answer is usually, “We need a person with 10 years experience, 5 years in our industry, team leader, strategic thinker, good communications and an MBA is preferred.” This is all about the person and nothing about what defines success in the role or what the person is expected to deliver once they come on board. It is naturally assumed if the person has the experience mentioned, they can deliver the expected results. It is our contention that experience has nothing to do with delivering results. Just because the person was a great VP of Operations at their last company, doesn’t mean they are the right VP of Operations for your company.

Instead of using the traditional job description, we recommend using our Success Factor Snapshot (SFS.) This snapshot is a list of Success Factors. Success Factors are simply the results you want this person to deliver, in order for you, the hiring manager, to consider this person a successful hire.

Taking our example of a VP Operations, our Success Factor Snapshot would define the Success Factors the VP needs to deliver – usually within the next 12 to 18 months. For example, the SFS would read:

Within the first 30 days develop a plan of action that will improve on time deliveries from 85% to 96% and present the plan to the CEO.

Within 6 months, develop and begin implementing a vendor qualifications program that will insure zero defects and 100% on-time deliveries from vendors.
Within 9 months consolidate the operations of two plants and produce a cost savings of at least 15%.
We would continue developing these Success Factors until we have 5 or 6 that clearly define what is expected of the candidate once they come on board.

Now when asked the question “What are you looking for.” The answer is “ we need someone who can improve on time deliveries to 96%, can implement a vendor qualifications program and consolidate operations with at least a 15% cost savings.” Instead of defining experience, you are defining success in this role.

We believe that if you find a person that can accomplish these Success Factors, you’ve found the person with the right experience.

Using the Success Factor Snapshot as a hiring guide sets the stage for a successful hire. Instead of the traditional job description, the Success Factor Snapshot clearly states expectations and lets the candidate know what is expected of them once they come on board. The SFS defines success in the role, not minimum qualifications. After all isn’t that what you really want to hire.

For more examples on this go to IMPACT Hiring Solutions

Shocked by your candidate’s on-line image?

When you’re presented with a resume, (regardless of whether it comes from an internal HR pro, a 3rd-party recruiter, a network contact, or off an advertisement), do you go on-line and check them out. What type of rants are your candidates posting on Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter? What pictures are they posting on Flickr – friendly shots of their family re-union, or something that could lead to a lawsuit once you hire them?

Validation and Verification of candidate information is one of the five core steps in our five-step Success Factor Methodology. Candidates think they can get away with inappropriate on-line images/activities, lying about their history, and mis-representing their accomplishments because they know that very few companies will actually check.

It’s so important to validate and verify information that we’ve dedicated an entire chapter in our book, You’re NOT the Person I Hired, to this subject. With the explosion of social media and the transparency it provides in seeing a variety of views of your potential hire, there is no excuse not to leverage these tools to save time and heart-ache.

Are they presenting themselves in a professional manner, or coming off like they’ve just emerged from a drunken stupor?

The resources on-line are astounding to verify, validate, and vet the claims of candidates. Here a few ideas:

Does the resume history match the LinkedIn Profile?

Are there significant recommendations on LinkedIn from customers, vendors, suppliers, former subordinates, and former bosses?

Are  the claims made about achievements and accomplishments consistent with the resume?

This is just a very basic, first level screen of validation. Yet, many candidates would not be able to pass the first level. The next step would be personality profiling, homework assignments, deep and intrusive reference checks, background checks, skill testing, and multiple interviews with multiple interviewers. More about these other forms of validation in a future post.

Here’s one small example – I can see a candidate’s  avatar/profile picture on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, I cringe at the completely unprofessional image candidates seeking a job convey – and we’ve not even glanced at their photo streams on these sites. If that’s their best foot forward in a job search, what on earth are they going to be like when they arrive on our doorstep for the first day of work?

Validate, Verify, Vet every single claim a candidate makes. You can’t afford to let your guard down when it comes to hiring. BE Nervous – BE Paranoid. What’s the old saying — Forewarned is fore-armed?

Barry

photo credit dbarefoot