"(The) hiring process is more art than it is science, more gut feel than database," explains Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer and partner with Kinetix, in the article. "We're all bad at digging in with candidates to really determine if they can be successful in the job we're trying to fill. As a result, we subconsciously overvalue things like attractiveness and smooth talking skills in the hiring process."
While Dunn's article doesn't conclude that attractiveness is the main reason for most bad hires, it does point out the limitations of today's hiring process for most businesses:
• Hiring managers all think their hiring instincts are great, even when they're not.
• HR and recruiting team don't know the jobs being filled like the hiring managers do.
• Attractive people are easy to hire due to our subconscious correlation between attractiveness and competence.
• Attractive people who are also strong communicators are almost impossible for average managers to decline.
"Hire More Ugly People" also explores the use of personality and behavioral tests, like Myers-Briggs, that profile potential applicants, but are often overlooked during the hiring process and neglect to produce useful data for hiring managers.
In order to select the best candidates, Dunn asserts that hiring managers need to "fight the natural instinct to hire the best looking, best sounding candidate" and instead focus on choosing the candidate best suited for the job. "Hire More Ugly People" explores several strategies HR managers, recruiters, and hiring managers can use to achieve this.
"Apply one or all of these strategies to your hiring process, and over time you'll end up with fewer misses and a higher overall quality of hire," Dunn says. "Hire more ugly people this year. Turns out, it's good for performance."
"Hire More Ugly People" is the latest in a series of executive thought leadership articles prepared by Kinetix. Download "Hire More Ugly People" and the other articles in the series to explore solutions to recruiting and hiring challenges, including the benefits of using an RPO firm.
Kinetix is a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm for growth companies. We leverage an integrated services model comprised of total RPO, staffing and recruiting, and HR consulting to help companies ensure that growth will never be slowed by an inability to efficiently acquire and retain the best talent.
