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HIRE_AND_HOPE____IS_THAT_YOUR_PLAN_FOR_GROWTH
| HIRE AND HOPE . . . IS THAT YOUR PLAN FOR GROWTH?
“If they can fog a mirror we’ll hire them.” “If their crimes
weren’t too bad, we’ll give them a job.” “We’ll hire whatever
applicants we can get.” Sound familiar? When I hear statements
like that from people who call themselves professionals, I
cringe. The problem is that I have been cringing a lot lately.
Low unemployment has frustrated many employers and managers who
are finding that the old ways of doing things don’t cut it
anymore. Sure it’s easy to complain and say that there aren’t
enough applicants to be overly particular. After all, low
unemployment is real and the excuse is a valid one. It’s easy to
rationalize that it isn’t the company’s fault that economic
growth has diminished applicant pools in terms of both quantity
and quality. However, successful companies and successful people
don’t accept excuses, and they won’t let rationalizations cover
up their need to deal with formidable challenges. They won’t
tolerate the lowering of hiring standards. Companies that must
add employees to grow and prosper have two choices. They can
either: A. Lower hiring standards, or B. Raise hiring standards
and the effort necessary to achieve those standards. At first
glance, Option A sounds like the easiest. But is it? Additional
time and resources must be allotted to deal with the increase in
problems frequently associated with hiring mistakes: ·Employee
turnover ·Excessive overtime costs (caused by absenteeism and
tardiness) ·Fraudulent workers’ compensation ·Employee theft
·Lost clients due to incompetence ·Negligent hiring lawsuits
·And more . . . Option B sounds a bit unrealistic, if not
radical, given these challenging times. Or does it? Who says
that employers can’t compete for applicants in the same way they
compete for new clients? Who says that employers can’t work as
hard to keep employees as they do to keep customers? Just like
Option A, this approach would obviously require additional work
and investment. However, quality always costs less in the long
run. For a fraction of the headaches and costs associated with
hiring mistakes caused by Option A, companies could: ·Invest
more in recruiting (promote the company, available positions,
and benefits). ·Invest more in selecting the best candidates
(use preemployment screening and skill, attitude, and
personality testing, etc.). ·Invest more in retaining employees.
The clock is ticking. What are you going to do?
Copyright 2001, Mason Duchatschek
About the author:
Mason Duchatschek is the president of AMO-Employer Services,
Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri, and co-author of the book Sales
Utopia: How to Get the Right People, Doing the Right Things,
Enough Times. His phone number is 1-800-245-0445, and his
company’s website is www.amo-es.com.
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