Page 29 - 914INC - Q4 - 2013

Edited by Robert Schork and Scott Simone Photography by HalinaWeker
aining Top Talent
Robert Schork: What do you think is the single biggest mistake employers make when hiring new employees?
Gregory J. Chartier: With small and mid-size compa- nies, the biggest mistake they make is hiring people because they’re right there in front of them and not because they're the right person.
Richard Greenwald: One of the horrible mistakes employers make is that they don’t actually understand the role they want the person to fit into in terms of the job description and the corporate culture; they might be hiring someone just to fill the void at that moment, and that’s the reason [some] people don’t work out.
Robert: So you’re saying that the employer has incor- rectly defined the position?
Gregory: Exactly.
Donald J. Zinn: Every time you have an opening, you have a brand-new opportunity to re-define your busi- ness needs and requirements. What do you really need now? If you start with that, you end up getting a menu for the individual that you need. You also need to look at all the dimensions—you have to look at the skill side of it, which is innately where American employees tend to focus. But the other side of it is the behavioral requirements, and that ultimately becomes the bigger predictor of success. Skills we can learn; behaviors tend to be stuck with us.
Joseph Di Carlo: That is a great point. We’ve seen an over-emphasis on hiring just for skill. What we’ve done at WESTMED is put an equal emphasis on passion and motivation in the process. So, in a way, it’s 33 percent equal—skill, passion, and motivation. If you have more passion and motivation, we will teach you the skill—we have people to do that.
Richard Greenwald
President
The Concorde Staffing Group
Annette McLaughlin
Program Director, Human Resource Management
Manhattanville College School of Graduate and Professional Studies
Joseph Di Carlo
Senior Vice President
WESTMED Practice Partners
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