Just Because They Can Fog A Mirror, Should You Hire Them?

The other day I was talking to a neighbor who owns a number of businesses and she was complaining about the difficulty of hiring entry level employees, a common lament many of us hear (or perhaps say) every day.  She went on to say, “It’s gotten so bad that if someone applies and can fog a mirror, we’ll hire them; besides, if they don’t work out, we’ll just let them go”.  Her comment of course is a common one; but it also begs the question, “Just because they can fog a mirror, should you hire them?”  And, no, this article isn’t about ways to find applicants.

In their need to fill open positions, far too many companies fail to consider the high cost of hiring the wrong person.  After all, the cost of employee turnover doesn’t show up on a P&L statement thereby making it easy to overlook this issue when analyzing expenses.  (For a copy of our “Cost of a Hiring Mistake Worksheet” – click here).  When hiring entry level employees for any organization, it’s critical these individuals possess the right core values.

About a year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of our clients began using the Step One Survey II in their hiring process because their new hire-failure rate exceeded 85% with 74% of those new hires failing in less than six months.  In fact, 50% left voluntarily or were fired within the first 60 days.  They began using the SOSII reports to guide their interview process and used the assessment scores as a guide for hiring decisions (not hiring anyone with a score of 3 or lower).  This process resulted in a reduction in the new hire-failure rate to 62% while the rate of six-month failures dropped to 50%. While the reduction was certainly a positive effect and the cost-benefit ratio favorable, management felt that continued improvement was possible with a more systematic approach.

During the early part of last year, the data from the first year was analyzed and revised hiring criteria was established based on that data.  Now to be considered for hire, an applicant could not have any score below four.  History evidenced that applicants who fell below the criteria were 40% more likely to fail than applicants above that level.

The graph below illustrates the outcome.  When the new criteria scoring approach was combined with the SOSII’s suggested open-ended, behavioral-based interview questions, management reduced new hire failures to 26% with virtually all the failures occurring in the first six months of employment.

While finding applicants for their entry level jobs remains difficult just as it does for most organizations, this one has proven just hiring someone because they can fog a mirror is expensive.

If you want to learn more about our Step One Survey II, click here or give me a call.