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Hiring Too Many Relatives of Employees

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 8

Recently Harry Wilson, a seasoned executive, was helping a company with a major expansion. Things were going along well until the company owner reconciled with his estranged son, Sam, and decided to bring the son into the business. The father had much remorse over the estrangement and to make things up to Sam, he was promoted to a top level position.

»» Hiring Too Many Relatives of Employees

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Keeping Staff That Do Not Excel During Their Probationary Period

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 7

Often, we hold back some salary during the probationary phase with a promise of an automatic raise after the probationary period is over. From long experience with employees, I can unequivocally say that if you are not totally delighted to give the employee the raise, you need to terminate them. There is no gray area here. Either they performed admirably or they didn’t. If they didn’t perform well during the first 90 days, THEY WILL NEVER GET ANY BETTER.

»» Keeping Staff That Do Not Excel During Their Probationary Period

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Not Establishing a Probationary Period

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 6

Even with sufficient interviewing, testing and background checks, you truly do not know what you have with a new employee until they have been on the job a while and the “new job honeymoon” has worn off. I always think that you truly know the measure of a person when you see how they handle adversity or problems. Do they fold up or rise to the challenge.

»» Not Establishing a Probationary Period

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Not Testing for Skills, IQ or Personality

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 5

There are a number of good tests on the market to evaluate your hires.  Tests are one tool that allow you to probe deeper into the candidate’s personality and skills and really know what you are “buying” when you hire.

»» Not Testing for Skills, IQ or Personality

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Not Conducting enough interviews

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 4

A few years back I was looking to hire someone to create a new division for our company. The person needed a rather eclectic background that was hard to find. I interviewed a candidate and it became clear after two interviews that she was not the person for the job. I went back to the drawing board and found another candidate that looked great on paper. He had the skills experience I needed.

»» Not Conducting enough interviews

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Continental Receives National WBE Certification

Anderson Indiana – September 3, 2009 – Continental Inc., a business specializing in, Professional Staffing, Design and Engineering, Quality Sorting, and Manufacturing, received national certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Great Lakes Certification Committee, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

»» Continental Receives National WBE Certification

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Not Checking The Candidate’s Background For Criminal Activity

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 3

Companies have varing policies on hiring an employee with a criminal background. But no one likes to be surprised in this area. Besides revealing past criminal activity, DUI’s and other alcohol related offenses can expose potential alcoholism.

»» Not Checking The Candidate’s Background For Criminal Activity

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Not drug screening

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 2

I once hired a personable young man as a CAD designer. One day our customer asked to have him relocate to their site, once he passed a drug test. That’s when we learned that he was secretly a heroin addict! To say we were shocked is an understatement!! This young man had keys to our building for months.

»» Not drug screening

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Hiring Friends or Relatives Just Because They Are Available

17 Common Hiring Mistakes: Part 1

When Jim Sloan of Able Silk Screening Services was ready to hire his first employee, his sister-in-law, Sue, was unemployed and looking for work. Though she had no experience as a screen printer, she was desperate for a job and immediately available. Jim hired her. It didn’t take long before Jim knew he made a mistake. Sue was often late, took long breaks and continuously complained about the work. It was clear this was not the job of her dreams.

»» Hiring Friends or Relatives Just Because They Are Available

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The Company You Keep

We’ve all heard the saying, “you are only as good as the company you keep.” Well, your company is only as good as the staff it keeps. In fact, the success or failure of a company depends largely on the type of staff a company has. Anyone who has owned or operated a business knows that it is very important to have the right people running that business if they want it to grow or prosper, and that could not be more true than it is in today’s economy.

»» The Company You Keep

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