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How High Is Your Failure Rate

February 7th, 2008 · No Comments

Hiring is the only process in your company where you accept a 56% failure rate!

When companies hire a six-figure executive, they expect them to “hit the ground running” and produce results quickly. But according to our surveys of more than 20,000 hiring executives over the past fifteen years and a review of published literature on the subject of executive failure, roughly 56% of newly hired executives fail within two years of starting new jobs. Frankly, 56% is worse than a flip of a coin. Published studies and decades of direct experience bear out the findings. We have interviewed more than 10,000 hiring executives during the past two decades, and we suspect that the actual rate of executive failure and turnover in the first two years is even higher.It goes without saying that a 56% failure rate is abysmal.If a similar failure rate happened on the manufacturing floor, the plant would be shut down. If a company’s financial statements were only accurate 56% of the time, it would be disastrous. And yet, year after year, organizations experience this syndrome and act as though they are helpless to overcome it.Is the problem that these companies are not interviewing enough people? Or asking the right questions? Could it be that it is impossible to predict whether somebody can succeed in an open position before that person comes aboard? See our research study on the “10 Biggest Hiring Mistakes”No, no, and no. Based on extensive research and experience, we have determined the most common root causes of much executive failure are: <! — [if !supportLists] — >· <! — [endif] — >Focusing on irrelevant past experience and skills<! — [if !supportLists] — >· <! — [endif] — >Nebulous expectations<! — [if !supportLists] — >· <! — [endif] — >Failure to clearly communicate expectations up front<! — [if !supportLists] — >· <! — [endif] — >Flawed hiring processesThe crux of the problem is that every company says it wants to hire a “superstar” who will “succeed,” but if you ask what a superstar looks like, or what “success” means in concrete terms like dollars, cents, percentages, time, headcount, and other hard numbers, you generally get a blank stare by way of reply.Is it any wonder that new hires fail to meet expectations when those expectations are not clearly spelled out?

So we developed a way to define success. We call it the “Success Factor Methodology™.” Using our SOAR template you can actually define those expectations before the candidate starts. This gets the assimilation process off to the right start.

Our website www.impacthiringsolutions.com has the complete solutions to ensure you don’t fall into the 56% failure rate.

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Tags: Hiring Mistakes · Hiring Process · Hiring Top Talent

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