Gloomy Report on Hiring Predictions

Recently, the US Chamber of Commerce published their latest quarterly small business outlook survey. Besides showing what we already know, the report offers a clear picture of the current national uncertainty about the future. 

Confidence is leaving Americans’ heart, in view of irresponsible actions from an Administration unfriendly to small businesses. A commanding 64% of respondents said they have no plans to hire in the next year, underscoring the stalled unemployment numbers and bleak economic forecast. 84% think our country is on the wrong track.


The report prepared for the US Chamber of Commerce by Harris Interactive on 1409 small business owners clearly indicates that a vast majority of them do not intend to hire more employees.

Economic uncertainty is the most important challenge facing small businesses, with 49% ranking it within the top three choices. Small business owners also feel challenged by the national debt (47%), the new health care law (39%), and the impact of regulations (36%).

Dealing with uncertainty

In times of uncertainty, the last thing you want as a business owner is to be surrounded by people who do NOT share your passion for profits, purposes and results. 

If the current economic challenges are making it hard for you to expand or even survive, do not make it more complicated by having to spend so much of your time to motivate, supervise, control, order or enforce compliance. Good people need guidance, not orders. Bad people do nothing with guidance and fake complying from fear of punishment. Good people need relationship, more than leadership. Bad people don't care about your leadership nor about your attention.

As Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great" states,
"The Good -to-Great leaders began the transformation by first getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it."  *   

* "Good to Great," New York, NY. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

If you need to replace some employee or plan to hire more, ensure you attract the right caliber. Do not fall in the personality trap: put your attention on measuring/evaluating some "invisible" but vital soft skills such as loyalty, honesty, persistence and a true taste for performance. Surround yourself with fighters who  will engage battles with your competitors - not with you!



Check on this link to see the program of our upcoming No-Fail Hiring workshop, on September 8 2011.

Also, you should do the Hiring Success Potential Analysis before you start your next hiring mission. It is FREE and it might avoid you a lot of trouble. This powerful assessment will provide valuable information on what you need to do to attract the right people, the top players who do not fear challenges but love them!

Patrick Valtin, author of "No Fail Hiring"
President/CEO of M2-TEC USA, Inc.

Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills - Don't Fall in the Trap!

We all know that most employees get hired for their hard skills and get fired for the lack of soft ones. Personality is what I call in my book the "the Ace of Spades in the Hiring Game" for a good reason: soft skills most often make the difference between good applicants and the others, but you can't detect some critical soft skill by just asking an applicant to exhibit it. I have never met a candidate who was openly confessing a serious lack of soft skill but I have met thousands of them who pretended to possess many.

Why new employees fail

Contrary to popular belief, technical skills are not the first reason why new hires fail. Instead, interpersonal skills dominate the list, per a survey conducted on 5,247 hiring managers*:

• 26% of new hires fail because they can't accept feedback.
• 23% of new hires fail because they are unable to understand and
  manage emotions.
• 17% of new hires fail because they lack the necessary motivation
  to excel.
• 15% of new hires fail because they have the wrong temperament
  on the job.
• Only 11% fail because they lack the necessary technical skills.

During that study, 812 managers experienced significant more hiring success than their peers. What differentiated their interview approach was their emphasis on interpersonal and motivational issues. So make sure you focus your interviewing energy on applicants' coachability, emotional intelligence, motivation and temperament.

* Mark Murphy, "Why New Hires Fail," LeadershipIQ.com, n.d. Web August 15, 2010.

The most important soft skills

No matter what the job is, you should always check for the following
crucial soft skills:

- Honesty, 
- Willingness (eagerness to work hard and to do new things),
- creativity (ability to create or contribute to new ideas and to
  innovate, find solutions to problems),
- Manageability (ability to accept and implement orders or feedback
  from seniors and colleagues),
- Temperament (general attitude towards others, including team
  work and positive attitude),
- Being challenge-driven,
- Drive/self-motivation,
- Communication skills,
- Tolerance to pressure,
- Analytical capacities.

The No-Fail Hiring System precisely focuses on these invisible, hard-to-detect soft skills. Our confidential interview technique allows you to evaluate each of these personality-related skills with optimal objectivity - sometimes within the first 15 minutes.

Hiring soon? 

Make sure you can detect those "invisible" soft skills early in your selection. Buy the book "No-Fail Hiring" on Amazon on on my website. Also, if you plan to hire at least 3 new employees in the coming months, contact me to receive a FREE phone assessment of your current hiring process. I can help you minimize subjectivity in your evaluation of these vital soft skills as stated above. you can also call 877-831 2299.


Good luck in your hiring missions,

Patrick Valtin, Author of "No-Fail Hiring"
President CEO M2-TEC USA, Inc.