The Wrong Person WILL Take the Job - If You Let Them.
A person who needs a job will take a job that's not right for them.
Period. End of Story.
When the bills come due, the kids are hungry,
and the spouse gets cranky, they're taking the
job. They won't like it and they may not do well
at it. But they'll sit in an interview, look
you right in the eye, and say, "I'm really
excited about this opportunity."
And you will believe them.
You won't have enough candidates. You will be
under pressure to fill the seat. You'll see
something in their demeanor or skills or
background that suggests they could do the work.
So you'll succumb to pressures that are very
much like theirs, and you'll do the wrong thing.
And in 3 months you'll both know it. You did
o.k. with the facts at hand. You made a
reasonable dependence on the other person to
do their part. You made a leap of faith that
even though you had some misgivings, two
adult human beings could work it all out. But it
didn't work out, and if you're brave you can
admit it wasn't a smart move from the beginning.
How do I know all this? Because I've done it.
I've been stuck between the bills and an
ill-fitting opportunity, and I've smiled and
said yes, with at least reasonably solid intentions
of making a go of it.
I've even done it with a friend who said, "Let's
just give it a try for a while," then fought
myself to do the right thing on the job and
failed.
I've taken jobs I knew nothing about and shouldn't
have even considered. I've taken jobs I knew
everything about and took in spite of my best judgment.
That's life. Somewhere in the group of people
who answer your employment ad will be at least
one person who knows how to interview well and
needs a job, but who really, really doesn't want
to do what you need someone to do.
As a business owner, do you owe it to the person
across the table to ignore the facts or even
your intuition? Do you have a moral obligation
to let someone try a position because they need
it and happen to have made their way into the chair
on the other side of the interview table?
Or do you, as a business owner, owe it to
yourself, your team, and the individual who
will take the wrong job to turn them away?
I once had 7 interviews with the same company.
After the 4th I was pretty peeved, and thought it was a waste
of time and energy. I'm still a little offended
that they weeded me out instead of in (it
was a great team!), but truth be told, they
stuck to their process and their guns, and
in the end, they protected the integrity and
spirit of their team.
In hindsight, I honestly admire them for that.
If you're incapable of telling whether someone
is right for the job, or if you need someone
to hold you accountable for hiring (or not
hiring) with a clean conscience then click the link below and email me.
I've seen this problem from both sides of the
table. I know it intimately. And I know the
steps you can take to make sure it doesn't
happen again.
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