Every company has been in this situation at least once. They spend days, weeks, or even months, looking for the perfect candidate. The Human Resource team works very hard setting up rounds of interviews, sometimes even flying potential hires in, before making a decision. The whole process involves the attention of half a dozen people working on scanning the resume, building a pool of candidates, sorting, checking references, scheduling interviews, etc.
And after this lengthy process, you finally hire the right product-market fit. It turns out that this person isn’t appropriate for the role, and you are back to square one. While it’s frustrating to have to re-hire for a position, what’s even worse is the cost of a mis-hire.
What is the cost of a mis-hire?
Hiring a pitfall costs a lot to the company. Apart from the time wasted in hiring and re-hiring, it causes the company monetary loss. The hiring costs involve recruitment, search, and advertising fees. The testing charges for each candidate and background checks are also on the company.
There is a loss of expected new business, ideas, and energy a great team member would have brought to the organization. There is a loss of production due to lower morale from other employees. The value of a critical customer who was also lost or driven away because of the mis-hire. Apart from all these, the direct loss to the company is the compensation, salary, benefits, and training charges. The investment made on the team member is 5 to 25 times higher than team member’s actual salary.
How to avoid hiring pitfalls with Palarino Partners:
Palarino Partners is a team of trained product management headhunters in the niche of recruiting Product Managers. While making a critical hiring decision, we know the factors one should consider. We follow a pattern to check if the candidate is the right team member for the company. Here are 5 Tips from Palarino Partners that can help you avoid hiring pitfalls.
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Hire For Later, Not Now:
A common mistake recruiters make is to hire on an immediate basis. Often, mis-hiring happens when there is an urgent requirement to fill the position. Recruiters tend to hire someone not the right fit for the job. Just because a candidate feels good on paper and seems to be a pleasant person doesn’t satisfy the requirement.
Hiring a product manager should be a planned process. With product manager hiring agencies, you can rest assured that you will find the right product-market fit as they do not feel pressured to fill the immediate position. They are, indeed, giving them time to weigh their decision before actually hiring a candidate. They are careful in search of long-term team members.
You do not want to invest in someone only to watch them leave the company after six months. So, make sure you make a careful hire.
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Look for Unicorns:
A product manager unicorn excels in all domains. While you know, it is close to finding someone like, and there are a few. You need to be precise to get your hands on such a candidate. Working with Palarino Partners, you will realize those clear skill specifications have more chances of finding the product manager unicorn.
A laundry list of abilities makes up the majority of job descriptions; the more explicit you can be when describing the skills needed, the better. Find the ideal individual who can assist you in achieving the goals of the product, and be prepared to make trade-offs in the process. You have a greater chance of finding and hiring qualified people if you have a clear list of prioritized product competencies.
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Complements the team:
Product management isn’t a single person’s job. An entire team is involved in making the product a big success. Product Management headhunters ensure that the team member they hire complements the team. The right fit will adjust to the company’s environment.
A mis-hire will elevate the workplace’s non-toxic, collaborative, and friendly environment. Such environments boost creativity and productivity. This will enable the people in your team to cross-skill and lift their capability over time and be led by an effective product manager.
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Choose diversity:
It is natural for a recruiter to hire someone similar to them. People always like to look at someone and see themselves in them. It makes them hire their clones which the company doesn’t need. An experienced recruiter can help you hire diverse employees. The company already has you, so hiring a candidate with different ideas, working patterns, and plans can bring about a change and upscale your business.
You’re likely to recruit people who represent your mere image unless you actively work to remove biases which is a complex process. It is in our nature. Diversity is a must in dynamic product teams, including a diversity of opinion, experience, background, and education. Hiring an ideal product market fit is crucial because one of our responsibilities is comprehending, learning from, and empathizing with various individuals.
As PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel said, “You don’t have real diversity when people look different but think alike.”
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Hire Influence:
Mis-hires are often the reason for hiring capabilities and not influence. Often, in interviews, recruiters aren’t able to identify the influential powers of a person. The mis-hires aren’t a result of failed productivity in work, but it is because they fail to “read the room” or aren’t able to engage their team and stakeholders. It also happens because they can’t perform the role of a leader.
With Palarino Partners, you can be sure of one thing: influence over capabilities. Because an ability can be learned, whereas a result is an innate quality, be careful while recruiting, as mis-hires are more common than known.
Takeaway:
When looking for a top-level employee, it is vital to take help from a professional. It helps you get a third-person point of view, which will indeed prove fruitful. Palarino Partners are product management headhunters recommended by industry leaders. We have a long list of candidates from which they will select the perfect fit for your company. So the next time you look for a product manager, you know whom to connect with.
