Before Hiring: Assess Yourself

08/20/08

Before you start interviewing people for a job, take stock of yourself. Your attitude and demeanor will go a long way toward determining whether you get enough good information to make a hiring decision.

Know yourself. Are you aloof? Gregarious? Reserved? A real “people” person? Whatever personality type you are, you’ll tend to favor those sharing your primary traits.

Sometimes this is good. You’re outgoing and like to laugh, for instance, and you’re hiring for a hospitality position. You want people who like to laugh and talk, so your personality is perfect for attracting the like minded.

At other times, you may work against yourself. You’re the outgoing/laughing type hiring for a cloistered, accounting position. You may dismiss out of hand a good-but-serious bean counter, someone who could contribute.

Are you threatened by good people? Many managers hire the mediocre, because they fear strong people. They think a strong person will make them look bad or upstage them. They think a strong person will earn the loyalty of others in the department. They think a strong person will end up in their job.

Hiring weak people makes you mediocre. Staffed with merely fair people, your department or company can’t excel. In hiring weak people, you hurt yourself the most because you’ll have no one to take your place if higher ups consider you for a promotion.

“I’m a great judge of people.” For some reason, a lot of managers feel they are good judges of human character, even after a string of bad hires. Don’t trust your gut when hiring; use a system. Have well thought out job descriptions, valid hiring criteria, and questions that will uncover whether your candidate has the skills you seek. Then use your intuition to augment and support the factual information you get from an interview.

Muzzle yourself.Many hiring managers have a tough time keeping their mouths shut during interviews. Watch out. The more you talk, the less you learn about the person in front of you.