5 Hiring Mistakes That Can Crush Your Company's Culture

Remember your first loan? You were excited andapprehensive: Excited because now you had the cash to invest, apprehensive because you had just taken on a debt you would have to repay.

But that was okay, because you were confident you could create more value than the interest you would pay. Even though you eventually have to pay off a financial debt, gaining access to the right resourcesnow often marks the difference between success and failure.

That’s true for financial debt – but it’s never true for culture debt.

Culture debt happens when a business takes a shortcut and hires an employee with, say, the “right” the skills or experience… but who doesn't fit the culture. Just one bad hire can create a wave of negativity that washes over every other employee – and as a result, your entire business.

Unfortunately the interest on culture debt is extremely high: In some cases you will never pay off the debt you incur, even when a culture misfit is let go or leaves.

Here are five all-too-common ways you can create a culture debt that can keep your from building from succeeding

1. You see the ivy and miss the poison

The skilled developer who writes great code… but who also resists taking any direction and refuses to help others… won't instantly turn over a new interpersonal leaf just because you hire him.

The skilled salesperson who in the short-term always seems to outperform her peers… but who also maneuvers and manipulates and builds kerosene-soaked bridges just waiting to go up in flames… won’t turn into a relationship building, long-term focused ambassador for your company just because you hire her.

The interview process is a little like a honeymoon. You see the best the candidate has to offer. If a prospective employee doesn't look like a great fit for your culture before he is hired, he definitely won’t be after he’s hired.

Never risk making a deal with the culture-fit devil. The soul of your company is at stake.

2. You discard the attitude and play the skill card

Skills and experience are worthless when not put to use. Knowledge is useless when not shared with others.

The smaller your business the more likely you are to be an expert in your field, so transferring those skills to new employees is relatively easy. But you can't train enthusiasm, a solid work ethic, and great interpersonal skills – and those traits can matter a lot more than any skills a candidate brings.

According to this study only 11% of the new hires that failed in the first 18 months failed due to deficiencies in technical skills. The majority failed due to lack of motivation, an unwillingness to be coached, or problems with temperament and emotional intelligence.

Think of it this way: The candidate who lacks certain hard skills might be a cause for concern, but the candidate who lacks the beliefs and values you need is a giant culture debt red flag.

3. You try to sell a used car

It’s tempting to over-sell a candidate on your company, especially when you desperately need to fill an open position and you've been recruiting for seemingly forever.

Don’t. Great candidates come prepared. They've done their homework. They already know whether your company is a good fit for them.

Describe the position, describe your company, answer every question, be candid and forthright, let your natural enthusiasm show through… and let the candidate make an informed decision. But, don’t oversell.

The right candidates recognize the right opportunities – and the right cultural fit.

4. You mistake the rumblings for hunger

Nothing beats a formal, thorough, comprehensive hiring process… except, sometimes, a dose of intuition and gut feel.

• Humble - They’re modest despite being awesome. They’re self-aware and respectful.
• Effective - They get (stuff) done. They measurably move the needle and immeasurably add value.
•  Adaptable - They’re constantly changing, life-long learners.
•  Remarkable - They have a super-power that makes them stand out: Remarkably smart, remarkably creative, remarkably resourceful…
•  Transparent - They’re open and honest with others – and with themselves.

In short, we look for people with H-E-A-R-T, because they help us create a company we love. So we always weigh our impressions against more qualitative considerations. You should too. Think of it this way: The more experience you have – the more lumps you’ve taken and hard knocks you’ve received and mistakes you’ve made – the more “educated” your “gut.” While you should never go on intuition alone, if you have a funny feeling about a candidate… see that as a sign you need to look more closely.

And look more closely.

For a detailed insider’s peek into how we think about culture at HubSpot, check out our Culture Code slides)

Bottom line: Define the intangibles you want in your employees and never compromise by hiring a candidate who lacks those qualities.

5. You decide to double down

There are two basic kinds of risk you can take on a potential employee.

• First the worthwhile risks: Taking a shot on a candidate you feel has more potential than her previous employer let her show; taking a shot on a candidate who is missing a few skills but has attitude in abundance; taking a chance on a candidate you feel certain brings the enthusiasm, drive, and spirit your team desperately needs. Those are good chances to take.
• Now the foolish risks: Taking a shot on a candidate with a history of performance issues that you hope will somehow develop a strong work ethic; taking a chance on the candidate who left his last two jobs because "my bosses were jerks;" taking a shot on the candidate who has no experience yet only wants to talk about how quickly and often she will be promoted.

Why do you rationalize taking foolish risks? You're desperate. Or you're lazy. Or you have "other issues to focus on." Or you figure your culture is strong enough to withstand the impact of one ill-fitting employee.

Don't take foolish risks. They almost always turn out badly. Occasionally take potentially worthwhile risks, because they can turn out to be your most inspired hires and, eventually, your best employees.

And never, ever take a chance that creates high-interest culture debt.

The cost to your organization is just too high. And, life is short.

The Social “Irrigation Drip” of Recruiting

Forming Relationships with Candidates Through Talent Communities
 


Social Media as a source of candidates is increasingly popular but regular, consistent results remain elusive for many employers. There’s some anecdotal evidence about social media successes in recruiting, but these are hard to replicate.  Also, what many employers call social media recruiting is nothing more than broadcasting jobs on social networks. Posting jobs on Facebook does not make the process social, and most recruiters use Linkedin like a job board – they simply search for candidates and then try and reach them. But that should be no surprise – trying to connect with prospective candidates socially is difficult and time consuming.
 
Mission (Maybe) Impossible
 
The goal is to form relationships with prospective candidates. The people you are trying to connect with through social media generally have expressed no interest in your jobs. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to engage them in a conversation, which may result in a relationship over time, which may allow you to convince them to consider a job you have open. In case it wasn’t obvious just remember that a conversation is a two-way street. This is what it makes it social. If you don’t have anything to share then it’s near impossible to form a relationship.
 

There are no shortcuts here. If you’re not interested in or don’t have the time to form relationships then just send them an email asking them to apply for the jobs you have open and see how well that works… But if you do want to use social media to recruit, then one approach that we’ve found successful is the Irrigation Drip approach to building talent communities.
 


The basic concept is simple – it’s information gathering, one piece at a time. Relationships are formed one drip at a time. Think about any social relationship you have – it didn’t form in minutes or hours. It formed as you got to know the other party, and vice-versa. The goal is to slowly collect information on candidates through a series of social interactions.
 


This approach starts with a talent community that attracts candidates of the type you would like to hire. The Irrigation Drip is the process that feeds a database of prospective candidates. As you get more and more information on candidates, a profile emerges. Let’s illustrate this with an example of a situation where this was implemented for a client that provides high-level financial planning services. They wanted to recruit people that had 10+ years of experience in insurance sales, dealing with high-level clients, and capable of establishing long-term relationships. Here’s how information was collected through conversations in a talent community.
 






The conversations resulted from a series of blog posts around the topics mentioned. The idea is to convert (interview) questions into opportunities for sharing, or provoking participants into sharing the information you seek. In this example, we developed a matrix with a row for each “trait” and offered a number of ways to stimulate a response.
Stimulating or provoking responses can be as simple as writing or commenting on a blog posts.
 
It worked well – the company made 8 hires, at an average cost of $618. The effort took about 4 months, but the given the profile of candidates they were targeting it was worth it. Most of the candidates were people who would never have applied for the job.
 
One Drip at a Time
 
Making social connections is a very labor and time-intensive activity. This is why LinkedIn is not much of a social network – the vast majority of connections people have are with individuals they know nothing about beyond what’s on the profile, mainly because there’s rarely been a conversation between the two. One of my best connections on Linkedin is an officer in the Israeli army. I have no idea why he reached out to me but I’ve got to know him pretty well as a result of email conversations that we’ve had where I helped him with his resume. I know of his family, his interests, his aspirations, and his goals and I was able to help direct him to a job with the UN since he was bored with what he was doing. That’s more than I can say about 90% of my other connections on Linkedin.


5 Secrets to Turning Your Blog into a Recruiting Machine!

Company blogs are not new, but according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 19% of employers reported using them in the past year. These organizations found only “somewhat effective” results with blogs, favoring Internet job postings and social networking sites as technologies for recruiting.

A blog is inarguably more time-intensive than other forms of social media and web-based communication. But, as so elegantly described by Blogger.com “your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.”  So why not take advantage of this kind of flexibility and ownership to attract potential candidates?

Whether your company already has a blog or is thinking about starting one, here are a few tips to consider as you prepare to connect with future applicants:

1. Communicate your culture: Your blog can serve as an extension of the company’s brand, sharing not only vision and mission but also your organizational culture. How would you describe working there? Does it come across online? While your website may be more formal, the blog format permits a conversational approach that allows readers, and prospective employees, to get to know your company a little better.
 

2. Link to job details: Add ways for readers to quickly access your current job listings, application instructions, and human resources contacts. Your blog posts can help educate people on your preferred processes and serve as a central hub for all of the company’s employment-related information. Think of ways to include interviews with your staff and application system tutorials into your content in ways that encourage stellar candidates to see the fit and take the next step toward applying. 

3. Start a conversation: Move beyond merely providing static information by inviting readers to share their perspectives, opinions, and suggestions about a range of topics relevant to your organization’s work. What are the common concerns and latest issues in your industry? Blogs can be quickly updated with brief posts that allow you to react to new events, and a forum for presenting crowdsourced comments gathered through other communication tools like Twitter and Facebook.

4. Look for blogging partners: Keeping a blog current in terms of topics and frequency of posts can be challenging, but you aren’t alone. Reach out to college career centers, many of which have their own blogs, to discuss a possible guest post exchange. Connect with student organizations, such as honor societies and clubs in academic disciplines focused on topics and activities relevant to your current needs. These groups may also be interested in contributing to or in being interviewed for posts on your blog.

5. Promote on-ground activities: You’re likely involved in more than just online recruiting. Use your blog to announce upcoming job fairs, campus visits, meetups, and conference expos. Provide information about your hiring needs in advance and encourage those who are planning to attend to introduce themselves while they are there. You can also report on these events after the fact, highlighting your in-person interactions and providing general tips for job seekers.

5 Ways HR Can Work With Recruiters

As the competition for top talent increases throughout the job market, companies must be sure that they are creating the best recruiting process and the best candidate experience. Nothing is better than having a seamless, smooth recruiting experience for your current and perspective employees. But how does that happen? We’ve discussed “Why HR Should Collaborate With Recruiters” and in the second part of this series we are going to tangibly delve into the top five ways to make that collaboration happen.

1. Develop The Relationship

Before any relationship can be made stronger it must first exist – it’s important to have a recruiter on staff. Some companies are smaller and can fold those responsibilities into the Generalist/Coordinator role, however most companies are bigger than that and need to invest in a Corporate Recruiter position. Corporate Recruiters are more engaged and aligned with the organizational culture which allows them to focus on the quality of the candidates versus quantity.

The Recruiter and HR team should meet formally within the office to work on recruiting and staffing plans AND there should be some informal interaction – such as coffee? I can tell you, everyone likes to be taken out for lunch, dinner or just coffee – it’s a great way to engage your team and strengthen relationships.

2. Define Who Does What

In a team dynamic, it’s important to clearly define the roles of each team

member. Same rules apply with Recruiters and HR. You don’t want the HR generalist doing the recruiter’s duties and vice versa – not that they can’t cover for each other from time to time – but assigning duties drives consistency and a better overall experience.

For instance, who does the initial screenings? Who recommends the candidate to the hiring manager? When and who does the salary negotiations? And what about the face to face interviews – who conducts those? What recruiting software will you use? (That could be a great collaborative effort by the way – the recruiter and the HR representative should both interview the candidate, possibly even as a panel interviews.) These things need to addressed and assigned so there are no redundancies, confusion and unprofessionalism.

3. Create Recruitment Strategies Together

Now that you and the recruiter have a good working relationship and you’ve designed the workflow process – (applicant trajectory) – now you have to create the most effective strategies for recruiting – talent acquisition – staffing – whatever you prefer to call it. Here are your options:

Social Media Recruiting – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest; all social networks with hundreds of millions of users in which you can use to engage and reach a new talent community.

Job Boards – Maybe you prefer a more traditional approach to recruitment marketing. Posting jobs to Indeed, Monster, Careerbuilder, and the tons of niche job boards can get the right eyeballs on your job openings.

Fairs – Jobs fairs, career fairs and college fairs; sometimes the older methods work just as well as some of the newer methods.

Database Search – when you want to hunt for new talent, the data base search is a good way to get a list of qualified names.

3rd Party Recruiters – Do you need them? At what terms? If so, discuss how you are going to manage recruitment agencies.

Hybrids – Try mixing it up a bit or as we like to say “The Remix.” Change it up a bit; mix and match strategies – you never know who you will find searching for a good place to land. By mixing any of the above options, strategically you are creating a company culture that makes you a desirable employer.

4. Share Analytics (Data!)

Analytics, that’s data. Yeah data may not sound sexy but we need it; it tells us what we need to know (if it is presented in a comprehendible form and we take the time to listen to it). This just makes sense, in order for your recruiting process to work; you have to know what doesn’t work. You have to ask questions. You have to ask the hiring manager, “Are you seeing the type of talent you need to see? Or are there adjustments that need to be made? Should I open more recruitment marketing channels?” You have to use performance evaluations to see if the candidate is performing well, and if they quit you need to conduct exit interviews to determine if there was something that you could have done to retain that employee.

Some companies send recruitment surveys out to candidates during and after the recruiting process – so there’s that option. A good recruiting software will already give you a lot of data about where the good candidates are coming from. You need data to support your recruiting process and show areas of improvement and effectiveness.

5. Respect 

In speaking with some recruiters, I’ve learned that sometimes what tends to happen when a company brings a recruiter on board is that person becomes the “dumping ground.” They get all the grunt work passed down to them, things that were not part of their essential job duties – they become the assistant’s assistant. Not cool. The recruiter should be viewed a part of the HR team that handles certain aspects of the recruiting process and not the low person on the totem pole.

The HR manager needs to make it clear to all department leaders and staff members that the recruiter is part of human resources and will manage the daily functions of the recruiting process. The HR manager should also make sure the recruiter has all the resources they need to succeed, such as user access with the appropriate administrative rights and privileges into the applicant tracking systemand other networks.

Ultimately, recruiters and human resources professionals are on the same page and want the same things. So it’s vital to communicate and work together to ensure the company’s talent is inspired, engaged and happy. Satisfying those internal customers (hiring managers, directors, supervisors) and external customers (candidates) is an extremely important task that requires some team work.

a report by

- Akshay Raj 

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