Posted by Jim Nelson on August 4, 2022
On LinkedIn I saw a guy list 7 questions to ask in an interview to be hiring A players. He got 36,832 likes
Who do you think took the most notes?
Of the 36,832 likes, how many liked because it taught them how to prepare to be interviewed? How many liked as they are hiring managers? How many of the hiring managers also liked as it may help them land a new job?
Hiring A Players But Get the A Manipulators?
I think most companies are more likely to hire an A manipulator than an A player. I often hear people say they started by batting .500 on good hires. The writer also said this, and I imagined he improved. If you had a machine that produced 50% good parts, would you be glad with a 20% improvement over ten years? I guess it is worth it to seek real expertise. We have been recruiting these 13 years, and have the astounding record of over 95% good hires. We have not had a bad hire now since 2018.
Back to the LinkedIn post, guess who else improved? Guess who are the A manipulators. Candidates for senior management are. Hiring A Candidates needs a lot a good objective data to make sure. SHI Group makes sure it all gets dug up.
So Many Top Hires are Falsifying
72% of all hires are manipulating according to our data. The average is over 80% for top management and salesmen. So if the writer felt he had 50% good hires then quite a few had manipulated him and, even after working for some time, they could not be identified. The most toxic managers are excellent at knowing how to manipulate their boss. They are the biggest drain on you. Once they get on the team, they learn the bosses weakness and can manipulate them even better.
Read a Pat Lencioni book called The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive for a leadership fable showing this problem. Actually Mikey in his book, the The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, is a classic case. It is so common that two of Lencioni’s books which are not on hiring note this problem as the key part of the problem for the companies involved. See also about SHI Group to see our heart and very special thinking.
One pointer we would add. A players do not need to hide their experience even if it looks ugly on paper. They know who they are.
We often see the wreckage when people play the odds on a good hire. Gladly, we do a lot before the wreckage for our clients, but also can help in times of wreckage. Another way to think about the A Manipulators is they are skillful, but they lack Integrity.
