IMGCAP(1)]Congratulations, you have posted that job opening to LinkedIn, CareerBuilder and every other website (or headhunter) you could conceivably think of. Now consider taking it down! Why?
Here are the top 10 reasons why you should rethink that next hiring decision:
1. You are never going to replace what you lost. I’m sorry to hear that you lost one of your best and brightest employees. Don’t expect to replace that person immediately. If you are trying to hire for their skill set, stop! Look for the characteristics that made that person who they were. Once you find those characteristics, train that person to the role that they will be successful in.
2. Your firm goes through a 12 month cycle: hire->say goodbye->hire. This is not a profitable cycle. Rather than hiring, consider taking a look at your corporate culture. What is the reason why you have a revolving door in your office? Are you looking for the wrong person or are you trying to fit round pegs into square holes? Stop making the same mistake over and over. Understand your problem and fix the problem before you bring in the wrong person again.
3. Did you really need that extra hand on staff? Face it, the person you lost was great, but are there ways to integrate the work that employee managed into your current workforce? Without getting your current employees overwhelmed, consider the current processes these employees have and find a new way to streamline your systems to minimize the impact of the new work.
4. You are hiring the wrong position. You are looking for a manager when in fact all you need is a motivated staff. Before you bring this person on, think about the roles and responsibilities they will bear. It’s oftentimes less about the experience someone retains and more about who the person is and what the candidate wants to be.
5. Your firm is on the decline. Sorry to say, but in looking around the U.S., a lot of smaller practices are on the decline. With aging partners and no succession plan, it might be time to focus your efforts on transitioning (selling or merging your practice) rather than hiring. And to be honest, a merger is more attractive when the purchased practice is a lean machine.
6. You are too busy to train. Want to just plug and play your next candidate without any training? Talk about a lose-lose venture for all parties in advance. If this is your plan, you might as well just write a check of up to 50 percent of the person’s potential first-year pay to charity and cut your losses there.
7. Try a different resource. Before LinkedIn, craigslist, CareerBuilder, etc., there was something called family and friends. Chances are the people within your community who share your values and standards will have the candidate you have been searching for in their rolodex.
8. You don’t know what you really need. You probably copied the job listing and requirements from the Internet and said, “That is what I need.” In actuality, you probably have not planned the direction you want your firm to go, and since you are so busy and feel like you just need “someone,” you copied what somebody else was doing. This is despite the fact that your practice is unique and different.
9. You haven’t evaluated other resources. What technologies or outsourcing have you dismissed since you believe you need somebody in your office tomorrow? Consider these alternatives. Look at your processes. Are your systems old? Are there opportunities to automate your workflow? Can you systemize your practice to make it more efficient with fewer errors? And go back to issue #8: Do you know what you really want and need?
10. The “five years of experience licensed senior/manager at the right price” is a unicorn. Sorry to break the news. Every other firm in your area is looking for this person too. Unless you are willing to deal with an issue that doesn’t appear on the surface or overpay for this candidate, find another resource.
Adam Blitz is a CPA and a relationship builder. Through his website
