Hiring is hard.

Hiring is especially tough when finding the right people even to interview is a struggle.

If hiring is hard, then making the wrong hire is like wurtzite boron nitride (which is harder than a diamond – which is really really hard – trust me – I googled it).

Why is the wrong hire like our new friend wurtzite boron nitride?

It’s harder because of the time spent onboarding, inserting that person into your team, and then all the emotional energy managing the wrong fit, trying for too long, and ultimately extra time and energy to make the decision and design their exit.

That’s wurtzite ya’ll.

This is not anything new, so why am I writing this now?

The challenge with finding the right talent is causing CEO’s/Owners and their companies to fill seats just to stop the bleeding. As a result, some are unhooking their normal hiring practices to get by.

Like any season, these slim workforce options will pass. Make your company stronger by hiring hard now so that all the work coming in 2022 will be easier.

Not new, but reminders:

Speed Kills.

Going fast now will kill your productivity later. Be patient. Follow your process. Give candidates the room to show where there may be challenges – before they show up. You both will benefit. Make the candidate aware of your slower than normal speed so that they don’t make up a story for you.

Use tools.

There are enough hiring tools and assessments out there now that you should use before talking to candidates and during the process. Whether you are doing personality, strengths, culture, indexes, etc … use the science to stop your gut from making a quick decision. See above.

Wisdom of others.

It takes more time and resources, but use multiple people and departments in the hiring discussion. The executive and VP level needs this the most. Executive-level candidates will affect many people, so buy-in across departments is a wise investment.

Make it relational.

We are relational beings. Expert experience and no personality or culture fit make for a bad hire. Create a relational portion of the hiring process, whether a meal with a spouse, or invite to a team function like a happy hour. You’ll learn a lot about their ability to connect.

I know there are no new ideas or silver bullets in this list. The point is to check your basics, make sure you are doing them, and be patient because hiring hard makes the work easy.