Horror Hire

If you think when you go for a job interview it is a nail bitingly painful affair, imagine what it's like for a Human Resource manager who has to screen through all the job applications, narrow down the best and then conduct each and every interview himself while his other tasks keep piling up on his desk!

Once the interview is over, all the job applicant has to do is just wait patiently for the call that may or may not eventually come.

The HR manager on the other hand, has the task of deciding who the best among the many hopefuls is. If he is not using a job fit hiring assessment he doesn't have much to go on. The stakes are high. If he picks the right one, the company profits, if he picks the wrong one it could be a very expensive horror hire and the cost get associated to him.

So how does one pick the person that is exactly the right ?t for the job? And how sure are you that that person who ‘aced' the written test will actually pass with flying colors on the work floor itself, say in a year down the road?

Some might choose to go purely by gut instinct; others will base their decision on the recommendations of family and friends. That can prove to be so very right or disastrously wrong as one small local engineering ?rm discovered to its dismay.

The firm had hired a manager who was highly recommended and who supposedly had chalked up quite an impressive resume working with multinational companies. The new manager was supposed to help streamline the company's operations but in the first three months, he behaved so arrogantly and antagonized the lower rung staff, they refused to work with him and chaos ensued. The company was forced to terminate him only to discover that he had obtained the e-mail contacts of all their clients and associates which he used to exact revenge.

He e-mailed allegations against the company to their clients and threatened to cause even more malicious damage to the company's reputation, unless they paid for his silence! The enraged company was forced to hire outside expertise to investigate his background, counter his claim and fend off his allegations. They paid for a due diligence report to be conducted and forwarded the reports to their clients. Then they hired a lawyer to block further action by the ex-employee.

With so much at stake today, it's about time that company's ramp up the assessment process and cull those who misrepresent themselves versus those who are really competent. The Harrison Assessment can help you avoid the very expensive horror hire and keep your organization profitable.