How successful have you been in your hiring high performers? That’s a question that opened an excellent session today at ASCP’s 2013 Annual Meeting entitled “Mis-Hires: How to Avoid Making One and How to Avoid Being One.” Lewis Hassell,MD, Director of Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a faculty member of ASCP’s Lab Management University, described the “ABC” ranking of employees.
At one end of the spectrum are “C” employees, those that make managers happy when they join someone else’s team, said Hassell. The “A” employees are the ones that always come through for you—the ones mangers want to hire.
“B” employees are in the middle, but in the right environment, said, Hassell, these can become “A’s.”
On average, managers succeed in finding “A” level employees about 40–60% of the time, but studies show that managers can boost that rate to over 90%. How? By altering their hiring practices.
The usual approach—screening CV’s and inviting promising candidates in to interview—favors candidates that make a strong first impression. Job seekers can game this system; they can pad resumes and produce answers they think hiring managers want to hear. This approach, said Hassell, values a candidate’s affability and availability over attitudes and abilities.
On average, managers succeed in finding “A” level employees about 40–60% of the time, but studies show that managers can boost that rate to over 90%. How? By altering their hiring practices.
Managers might gain more insight into a candidate’s judgment, integrity, and passion, he said, by presenting the job candidate with a scenario. Ask candidates about a challenge they encountered in a previous position and how they responded, suggested Hassell. “Candidates who can’t think of a challenge probably aren’t ‘A’ level,” he said. Don’t overlook red flags, he said, or even pink ones. Don’t readily dismiss eccentricities, try not to hire out of desperation, and don’t choose a candidate merely because they’re better than the last person who held the job, he cautioned.
Job seekers can also maximize their career success by carefully assessing the quality of the organization they’re about to join, not just the location or the financial remuneration. Hassell admonished job seekers to do their due diligence in order to join an organization that will enable them to function at an “A” level.
Students of Lab Management University who could not attend this session in person can see a recorded version of it in October at Lab Management University. I encourage job seekers and hiring managers alike to watch it.
-Michelle Hoffman, Director, ASCP Publications
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