Hiring Insights

Does the most qualified candidate always get hired? The answer is "NO". On the surface, companies hire due to a need within the company. Underneath the surface, companies are also ensuring that you are a defensible hire.

Common Reasons a Company Hires Staff

• The company is growing and need to increase staff levels to meet their growing demand.
• The markets or technology changes, the company has realized that they do not have internal skillsets to evolve effectively.
• The company need to backfill a role from an employee leaving, retiring, etc.
• A new manager has been promoted and is making changes to craft and implement their vision.
• There is a new manager hired and they want to:
  • Bring in "their" people that they know are loyal and/or that they know they performance at a certain level.
  • Build their own team, people that they have hired directly and not inherited.

The Risk Management Perspective

Research from Harvard Business Review and SHRM consistently shows that candidates are evaluated based on how well they reduce uncertainty about future performance though-out the hiring process, not on how thoroughly a candidate answers what was literally asked.

The interview (process) can also be seen as a risk management exercise, inquiries are specifically designed to surface any potential liabilities, flight risks, and whether a candidate will fit within the existing organizational fabric.

Once this is understood, the interview process becomes a lot more manageable to navigate.