Hiring an employee is knowing what you are looking for and how to find it in an applicant.

Considering hiring a new employee?

Despite what we see in the movies, meeting an interesting stranger, hitting it off after a few hours and flying to Vegas to get married is not usually a formula for long-term success. Does it happen and can it work out?

Sure, but the odds are stacked against it. Yet that is how most of us hire a new employee. A couple of dates and we pop the question.

In a 2011 TLNT.com article “Cost of a Bad Hire? A Lot, But only if You React Slow and Never Change,” Lance Haun demonstrated how the financial cost of a bad hire can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Not only does the ‘wrong’ hire cost money it can waste time and energy, damage your reputation and harm the morale of other employees.

Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, in his 2011 book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” pointed out that our first “fast thinking” impressions, while necessary for daily functionality, do not always provide the best decision making information. Even when your impression turns out to be fairly accurate, there may be a disconnect between the characteristics you were attracted to and what is required to succeed in a role.

At the time a hiring decision is made you usually believe you are making the right decision.

Yet data shows that 30-50 percent or more of hiring decisions are not successful. Hiring decisions are usually based on limited data.

Often we do not really know what “impressions” we should be looking for and rely on our gut feelings or the recommendations from others, including our friends and maybe family. And, while you may trust their recommendations if they are not intimately familiar with the job and your company their judgment may not be enough.

Candidate Assessment

To augment your existing hiring process you may want to consider incorporating the use of more objective screening measures such as psychometric assessments.

I am not talking about a deep psychological assessment, as can be done for jobs in highly sensitive areas, but the more simple screening for general characteristics. The two I have used most frequently include screening for personality characteristics and for emotional intelligence.

Screening for personality characteristics is among the most common and accessible tools available.

Personality characteristics can provide insights into the preferences and behaviors an individual is naturally inclined to exhibit. These insights can provide you with information to assess how comfortable a candidate will be working in your organization, with the team and in the role.

When you combine this with the skills and qualifications you are already assessing you can obtain a more accurate picture of ability and fit.

Next page- 4 steps to determine employee fit.