Smart Hiring: Time for a Refresher Course?

Have you ever hired the wrong person? Maybe the bad decision didn't rise to the level of hiring an embezzler or someone with a violent temper. But regret comes in many forms. You may have hired someone who shows up late most days, or calls in sick every other Friday, or does more personal texting than actual work. It may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes it's worse to let a mediocre employee slip past your hiring process than one who is clearly a disaster. Why? You could wind up suffering longer with the sub-par hire than the one who commits a termination-worthy offense early, and is promptly sent packing. That assumes, of course, that the disastrous hire doesn't take your business down with him.

Can you, without the benefit of clairvoyance, avoid choosing the wrong job candidate? In most cases, yes. But first you need to take a fresh and, if possible, objective look at your current approach, and identify ways to improve it. It's likely that most every employer has regretted a hiring decision at least once, even if there was no fiasco involved.  Here is what you need to know…