Bad hires are something most of us are all too familiar with.
It usually starts like this:
We rush to fill a needed position because we are worried we are going to have an onslaught of disgruntled clients or a potential bar complaint.
Other times we rush to hire because we are eager to start a new marketing strategy, or implement a new management idea and feel we are losing money and signups the longer the position goes unfilled.
But our efforts to hire quickly can prove counterproductive and hugely problematic. Think frying pan to fire.
- Perhaps we hire someone whose resume looks fantastic, but the new employee isn’t able to adjust to the demands of the position
- Sometimes the seemingly great candidate ends up having a toxic attitude and are quick-tempered or unkind to other employees or clients.
- Sometimes, we hire someone on the recommendation of a colleague or one of our current employees, only to learn that the new hire cannot come close to meeting our expectations.
- Other times, the new hire is extremely nice and likable, but simply ill-suited for the position or the firm.
- Sometimes the impressive new hire is a bust because they trumped up their resume and don’t have the necessary skill set.
- Sometimes, we make a great hire, but they bolt in a year or less – after you’ve invested time, energy, and firm resources.
And once we realize we’ve made a bad hire, we feel duped. Misled. Angry or frustrated. We wonder, “Why didn’t I see this coming?”
There’s a reason that Ken Hardison, PILMMA’s founder, always cautions “Fire Fast, but Hire Slow.”
While there’s no crystal ball to ensure that every new hire is a success, there are some simple and easy-to-implement strategies to help you avoid a bad hire:
5 TIPS TO HELP YOU AVOID A BAD HIRE:
- Check their References and Past Employers: If you are in a hurry to make a hiring decision, it’s tempting to just scan the resume, see that the applicant has references and past employers and then check that box off your hiring checklist. But don’t skip this important step. Instead, follow through with contacting references. Ask them how they know the candidate, and why they would recommend them for a position. More importantly, reach out to all prior employers and ask this simple magic question: “Knowing what you know now, would you rehire this person?“ If they say, “No, I would not rehire them,” this would be a huge red flag for you.
Contacting them may seem like too much trouble, but this step will provide you with invaluable real-life information about the candidate, as opposed to what they say about themselves.
- Check their Social Media Accounts: Let’s face it – in 2023, most everyone is active on at least one or two social media platforms. Bringing a new employee into your firm is an important step, and you need to assess what kind of person you are hiring, to make sure they are who they say they are, share your firm’s core values, and will mesh with your firm’s culture. This isn’t spying – this is basic hiring research.
If you search for the candidate on social media and they don’t exist or their account was just formed last week, this should be a big red flag to you. Something doesn’t add up. Most of us have social media accounts that go back for years. If the candidates is brand new, there’s something about their life they don’t want you to know about. This should give you some serious concerns.
- Analyze their Resume: Too many times, we simply scan the resume quickly to see if they have any prior experience remotely akin to what we are looking for. But a resume tells a story if you take time to read it carefully. For example, have they worked at 10 different places in the last 6 years? This lets you know that they have some issues. Perhaps they have problems working with others. Maybe they just can’t make up their mind about what they want to do with their life. If you notice that they’ve had full-time employment, but also list a side business they’ve been pursuing at the same time, you need to pick up on this and assess whether their additional side job will limit their ability to be fully present and focused in a position with your firm.
- Don’t Rely Solely on Behavior or Mindset Tests: Don’t get me wrong here, I love Jay Henderson’s Real Talent evaluations and we always use them to help us analyze prospective PILMMA employees. However, it is a mistake to go with a candidate who tests well theoretically but has real identifiable red flag issues.
- Don’t Skip or Skimp on the Interview: When a candidate looks great on paper, or tests well, it is tempting to skip a formal interview, or to opt for a quick cursory one instead. Don’t fall into this temptation. You need to determine what motivates this person, what makes them tick, and you need to determine whether they will mesh with the other employees and your firm’s culture. Ask probing questions. Observe them carefully, to see if they give impressive pat answers or brutally honest responses.
Determine what “season” of life your candidate is in. Honestly, you need to determine their current life responsibilities, in order to assess how much energy they will be able to bring to their job. You need to be able to anticipate how much inevitable absenteeism you will experience If you hire them. Finding out more about them in an interview, means listening to determine what other life responsibilities they currently have. Certain seasons of life can be challenging for all of us, and an otherwise, great candidates may simply not be able to be as reliable as you need them to be, particularly if you are hiring in-office staff rather than remote employees. It’s your job to read between the lines, and to pick up on this in an interview.
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It’s tempting to hire quickly, particularly when you are slammed with work, or facing multiple employees out on leave at the same time, or feeling desperate to fill a needed position ASAP, but taking the time to dig a bit deeper on the front end will help you avoid untold hassles in the long run. Hiring A-team players is an important part of building a successful law firm. If you want to increase your odds of avoiding a bad hire, force yourself or your hiring staff to add these 5 simple steps to your hiring process.
**If you want more strategies and solutions to improve your law firm’s management, then make sure you attend PIMMA’s 2023 Legal Marketing & Management Super Summit, May 16-18, 2023 at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans. Live or Livestream. You’ll hear 3 days of jam-packed cutting-edged presentations from some of the best lawyers and industry experts in the country.
