Security Management: How Do You Hire the Right Person?

Posted on: November 8th, 2017

Intro Felix P. Nater, CSC.  Hiring the right people for security work can be a real challenge.  In this edition we are featuring Mack Arrington, PCC of Pathways Career Testing (www.PathwaysCareerTesting.com) to walk us through a critically important part of every employer’s comprehensive workplace violence prevention program – the hiring process. Mr. Mack Arrington is certified in using a variety of assessments for recruiting and employee development and as such is intimately familiar with workplace issues but in particular personnel screening.

The hiring process is NOT an opportunity  to fill a position with a “warm body” but an individual whom the employment process can invest in as a productive member of the team and not a potential security threat tomorrow.  As many of you have heard me say over the years, the prevention of workplace violence involves multiple intervention strategies. In this Blog we will address the value of the hiring and retention as two (2) proactive intervention strategies in hiring the right person and possibly identifying potential at risk personnel.   Therefore, employers who conduct background checks and behavior based interviewing do so before making a job offer should also consider an assessment capability that helps identify problems along way that adversely may impact retention decisions later.

Check with your labor law attorneys in your state to be certain you are in compliance. Employment screening and assessment should be supported by a policy that articulates conducting background checks on all employees and not selectively because you get a gut feeling.

Mack Arrington, PCC shares his thoughts.

Have you noticed how expensive it is to hire the wrong person—especially with the standards and liabilities expected of security personnel? The recommended solution has three parts, but first, a word about the reality we face:

Did you know that over 70% of college students admitted they would lie on a resumé to get a job—and as many as 80% of job seekers already lie on a resumé? (1)

It is estimated that resumé fraud costs employers approximately $600 billion annually—talk about risk management! (1)

Did you know that, alone, the interview is only 14% effective in hiring the right person for the right job? (2)

Background checks can miss critical data and return incorrect information. Inaccuracies have sparked multi-million dollar class action settlements. (3, 4, 5)

And when it comes to “misstating the truth” in order to get a job, we could say that some folks have high integrity to low standards. Here is some truth you might have seen:

  • Resume writers can write great fiction
  • Past experience does not reliably predict future success in a different culture or environment
  • Job candidates don’t provide bad references on themselves
  • A business can get sued for giving a bad reference for a former employee
  • Background checks might not find everything
  • The interview is a fantasy world of happy faces; reality sets in after the hire
  • The hiring process is subjective and biased
  • Businesses hire for competency and fire for behavior

It Can Get Worse

Have you ever worked for a company, and wondered why they hired a certain person? It reminds me of the show where the undercover CEO pretends to be a new employee and tries different jobs in the company. It’s amazing how fast the trainer can tell if the “new employee” cannot do the job. You can almost see the questions that cross their minds:

“Where did they find this guy, and can they return him for a refund?”

“What was leadership thinking when they hired her?”

“How long is our team going to have to cover for this person?”

“Who’s going to do damage control with our customers?”

“Is this going to be a law suit or what?

“He’s already had three doughnuts, when is he going to work?”

From a leadership position, it can get worse—especially if you recommended or approved a bad hire. It’s like the saying, “That dog won’t hunt,” —and it’s your dog. I’ve seen it take months to document poor performance before a company would terminate an employee. Meanwhile, employee morale and productivity, and customer relations can suffer.

A Recommended Solution for Hiring

The best solution for hiring that I’ve seen combines three main parts. First, the documentation includes resumé, references and background check. Second, the interview provides a sense of how the person can show up, communicate and fit with the company. The third part, if done well, can provide the most insight into hiring the right person for the right job: assessments, also called personality testing.

I prefer to use what’s been called a whole person assessment to indicate a person’s success factors, motivators and behavioral style. I have used this kind of assessment to accurately predict high-risk hires, identify areas of concern and generate respectful interview questions that normally would not be asked. I have also used this type of assessment for employee training and development after the hire. Let me explain why this is important.

Have you ever considered the success factors that go with every job—much less the ability to test for those factors? Most employers want employees who have high scores in:

  • Decision-Making – they use common sense
  • Personal Accountability – they accept responsibility for their actions, both the good and the bad
  • Self-Management – they manage themselves so you don’t have to do so
  • Self-Control – they manage their emotions, both internally and externally
  • Resiliency – they keep going when the going gets tough
  • Results Orientation – they get the job done and done right

Of course, you have other specific success factors for specific jobs. In the security industry, a given job might require high scores in Conflict Management, Diplomacy and Tact, Problem-Solving and Life Judgment. Once you know the requirements, we can test for those requirements.

Motivators are a “make it or break it” key for hiring and retention. Every person you hire represents an investment of time and money, of training, of investment in the future of your company, and in your good name. In our assessments, if you can’t satisfy your employees’ top two motivators, those employees are likely to leave and take your investment with them—often to your competitors.

For example, I know of one employer who wanted to offer a “weekend getaway” to employees for improving performance. I pointed out that not all employees would be motivated by this. The employer then offered three choices: the weekend getaway, a big screen television, or a cash reward. It was amazing that about one-third of the employees chose each option depending on their motivators.

The behavioral style is the most observable part—if you have time to get to know someone. Is it smart to put an analytical introvert in a fast-paced, crowded environment? No. Is it smart to put a competitive, decisive, short-tempered extrovert in a situation that requires a steady, methodical sensitivity? No. Can these folks adapt outside their usual style? Maybe. The assessments can provide a quality process to plugging the right person into the right environment.

And yes, we can “reverse engineer” the process. Most of the time, we start with an assessment for the individual. But for mission-critical jobs, we can start by first identifying which success factors, motivators and behavioral style is required for a given job, and then test for the applicants who meet those requirements. This is usually the most accurate way to hire, and the most expensive to develop.

I hope this has been helpful. We understand that hiring the wrong person can be very expensive in many ways. Nobody can guarantee a 100% success rate in hiring, and then retaining the ones you’ve trained and want to keep is another challenge altogether. A combination of documentation, interviewing, and testing for success factors greatly improves the odds of getting it right. There are exceptions, and there are shortcuts, but is it worth the risk?

Don’t wait until tomorrow to confirm your concerns. Call Mack Arrington the Behavioral Assessment Coach NOW for a Complimentary Consultation! – 1-336-856-1600

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Mack Arrington began his private practice as a coach in 2001. He has helped people improve leadership, increase sales, hire the right people, find the perfect job, save their careers, stop wasting their time and resources, and focus on what really matters to them.

Mack is board-certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF) as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC). He is also certified in using a variety of assessments for recruiting and employee development. He has been a faculty member of CoachU, a globally recognized and certified coach training organization, since 2009.

References:
1. Resume Fraud: Little White Lies Aren’t So Little Anymore
https://lansingbusinessnews.com/business-news-today/2016/06/resume-fraud-little-white-lies-arent-so-little-anymore/

2. Why Job Interviews Are Like Flipping A Coin - Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2015/05/21/why-job-interviews-are-like-flipping-a-coin/#1582ab2b705d

3. Mistaken identity in background checks can cost applicants job offers
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/background-checks-make-mistakes-applicants-left-little-recourse/

4. A Quiet Epidemic: What Background Checks Miss
http://americanlens.com/quiet-epidemic-background-checks-miss/

5. Why A Background Check May Miss Your Applicant's Skeletons
http://www.datafacts.com/backgroundscreeningblog/2011/11/14/why-a-background-check-may-miss-your-applicants-skeletons

2 Responses

  1. Just a followup truth that many don’t consider: smaller companies have more to risk by hiring the wrong person.

    Look at it this way. If you have three people in your company and you need to hire a fourth person, the fourth person represents 25% of your work force. If 25% of your work force is a bad hire, it could put you out of business.

    I once was the MC for a program where successful entrepreneurs told what they wish they’d done differently. Two out of the three both said they would hire better employees at the startup. It would have been more productive in the short run, and less expensive in the long run.

    The usual process is to go through the documentation such as resume, background check and references; suffer through the initial interviews to find the candidates you’d like to have in your company; get the pool down to two or three candidates and test these finalists. The results of the testing will give you some insights on the candidates on how well they will fit, and you can use the test results to ask some specific questions for the final interview.

    The old saying applies here: Either pay now or pay later. The testing can save you a lot of trouble both now and later.

    • Felix says:

      Mack, your clarifying input opens the door for further exploration.

      Your example of the four employee model clearly drives your point home. From a Workplace Security & workforce safety perspective hiring the fourth person could very well be the disruptor. If that bad hire isn’t identified and the negative behaviors are not properly dealt with and managed such behavior adversely affects the performance, efficiency & safety of the 75%.

      The 25% will increase cost in a variety of areas, this relates to retention as well. The important thing I believe you’er driving at is that hiring & retaining a better employee can be part of an efficient process from hiring to retiring. An employee who would be identified as an organizational value over the long run.

      However, I don’t see how going through the routine review of resumes, background checks and references without a screening process is the way to go. A paradigm shift is necessary.

      Reviewing today’s pre-employment experiences we know the process can be enhanced in identifying the right employee.

What are your thoughts?