Becoming a top performer is a critical success factor in your career. The recruitment market is extremely competitive and top performers are ALWAYS in high demand. Avoid these 5 common mistakes, and you will stay on the road to success and make hiring an enabler of your success and not an obstacle:
- Not investing time in scoping the role – Taking time to consider exactly what you want and need for your next hire is a critical step in the hiring process. Too often, leaders accept a boiler plate job description given to them from HR or reuse the description from a previous hire. You should always take some quiet time with a blank piece of paper to consider the current and future needs of your company and create a current wish list of skills along with the outcomes you want from this new hire in the next 12 months. Keep this list close as you evaluate candidates and use it as a guide when making your final hiring decision.
- Falling in love with personality – Getting too hung up on personality is a trap that many leaders fall into. Good leaders balance culture fit with experience and accomplishments. Past performance predicts future performance. Don’t ignore this fact because you get along with the candidate. Many of the worst hires you can make are extremely likable people. They just don’t produce. Look for past accomplishments, relevant experiences, job progression, and sticking power in their past jobs.
- Not planning how the work will get done until the job gets filled – Too often leaders become desperate to hire someone—anyone. This is a common cause for poor hires. Hiring great people in the medical device industry takes time. 60 to 90 days is the industry average. You will need to have a plan to get the work done in the interim. Giving others on your team increased responsibility, renegotiating goals with leadership, and hiring temporary help or consultants are all good options. Take the time as soon as you have an opening to consider how critical it is to get the work done. It will buy you the time you need to hire the best person without the pressure of being understaffed clouding your judgment.
- Failure to acknowledge the market and adapt – Getting too focused on your job description and doggedly sticking to the profile created as part of an isolated job scoping process is a recipe for failure. Once you understand the market for your role, you must adapt and identify the best individual to accomplish the goals you laid out in your plan. This means you must be willing to compromise some of the requirements on your wish list in order to create a successful hire.
- Not selling your vision – As previously stated, top performers in the medical device industry have many choices. So why should they choose to work for you? You must consider this and be able to clearly articulate the value proposition to your candidates.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you can maximize your opportunity to hire a top performing individual and avoid a mis-hire.
Share:
Follow:
