Quickly gave me varying results
Aug 03 '01
The Bottom Line If you need to hire fast, take on a contractor... it's better in the long run to take your time when hiring an employee.
When hiring an office assistant, my husband and I interviewed numerous candidates and even at around $30 per hour, we still weren't getting the people we wanted. Some were perfectly skilled for the role but simply didn't have the personality. We were considering one older gentleman who said at the last minute "I'm gay, is that a problem?" Of course, it wasn't until he told us! Sexuality is something that should simply not be raised at an interview! Another went on and on about fair trading which concerned us (employee rights etc.). Others simply answered questions not to our liking. Another was heavily in finance which suited us but we knew he was overskilled. In the end, we ended up hiring a young man just out of law school but who also worked part time for a law firm. After giving him a go for a few weeks, we had to let him go. He would make a good lawyer one day but he just couldn't follow instructions properly.
Another time, we wanted to hire two unix administrators. We had a number of good candidates, some with PhD's but minimal industry experience. We took two of the candidates. One we weren't overly impressed with but took on the "he'll do" attitude. He did "do" for about 6 months and then went to jail. He was attempting to haggle over contract terms and payment mid-contract and was a handful to manage. We were not disappointed that we hired him as the 6 months' that he was with us, certainly paid off. The second candidate stayed with us for 2 years and was absolutely wonderful. We knew immediately at the interview that he would be.
Sometimes, it is impossible to wait for the "right person" and, to an extent, you just have to go with the flow. If possible, wait for the right candidate. If you need someone to come in up and running, hire a contractor/consultant. Employees should be viewed as long term and should, therefore take longer to hire. If a company needs someone urgently, a fixed term contractor is the best option.
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