Navigating the Hiring Minefield: Strategies to Avoid Toxic Hires
4 min read
TLDR: Interview for Behavioural Skills, look for a History of Short-Tenure, Utilise Personality Psychometric testing software, Seek Robust References and Exercise a Probationary Period.
Ever worked for or alongside someone who made your and other work colleagues’ lives a nightmare? Ever worked for a boss or senior leadership that cared only for themselves and not you?
Hiring the right talent is crucial for the success and well-being of all organisations. However, one wrong hire can have detrimental effects on team morale, productivity, company reputation and company culture. It can even potentially lead to legal issues. Toxic hires – individuals who exhibit harmful behaviours such as bullying, narcissism, or a profound lack of integrity – can wreak havoc on an organisation if not identified and addressed early on. Such individuals can be perceived as go-getters, exuding charisma and often rise up the ranks and assume positions of power. In this guide, we'll explore 5 strategies to avoid toxic hires and maintain a healthy, thriving workplace environment.
Screening at Interview: Identifying Toxic Behaviour Red Flags
The first line of defence against toxic hires is a robust interview screening process that identifies red flags early on. By robust, I don’t mean that you need double-digit interviews - far from it. Even for senior roles, my opinion is that three, four at most are all that should be required if the process is joined up and professionally run. Any more and for me, questions start to be raised about organisational decision-making capability.
Ensure there is continuity throughout the process - the hiring manager needs to be a constant as a minimum otherwise perspectives and opinions become subjective with no consistent reference points.
There are two questions that need to be answered from the hiring party’s perspective - can they DO the role and will they FIT into our organisational culture? The latter is where the screening for toxic potential really kicks in. Incorporate behavioural-based questions into your interview process to assess candidates' interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.
Asking the right questions therefore is key. Questions such as “Why are you looking to leave your current employer?”, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” and “Tell me why I should hire you for this role” are all standard questions, but it’s the way that an individual responds that is key. Look for traits commonly associated with narcissism, such as arrogance, entitlement and an overstatement of achievement.
Ask ‘negative’ stress questions like “Tell me about a time when you failed” or “What was the most challenging piece of feedback you ever received” or “What annoys you in other people?” and look for signs of defensiveness, overt justification and/or overly-judgmental responses lacking empathy. If things feel awry they probably are - remember that you’re seeing the person at their absolute best in an interview (or you should be) so small red flags are likely to be indicative of more substantive issues, so don’t be afraid to explore and dig further.
Look for evidence of real-world accomplishments and contributions. Ask candidates to provide specific examples of their achievements and experiences. Look for consistency in their stories and don’t shy away from challenging them if there are - the way they react to the challenge may in itself show their true colours.
Look for HOW they answer at least as much as WHAT they say - as much as 93% of what is being conveyed comes from tone and body language so tune in to these attributes and dig deeper if red flags appear. Don’t be afraid to deviate from a list of questions to funnel and follow your intuition. Gut feel, especially if you’re an experienced people leader, is a vital component of assessment that can be supported by insightful and searching questions.
Remember that the charm and charisma that often comes with such candidates makes them generally better performers at interview - it comes across as confidence, which can be attractive, but being alive to the fact that this may be an indicator of something more sinister is key.
Spot Short Tenure Elsewhere: Investigating Career Stability
Another warning sign of a potential troublesome hire is a pattern of short tenure at previous employers. While job hopping may not always indicate a problem, it's essential to investigate the reasons behind frequent job changes. During the interview process, ask candidates to explain the reasons for leaving previous roles and assess their level of accountability and self-awareness.
Look for signs of defensiveness and over-justification rather than candour, authenticity and transparency. Individuals who exhibit narcissistic and other related behavioural traits often don’t like to be challenged and may struggle to maintain composure.
Employ Psychometric Testing: Using Established Software for Additional Visibility
I’m personally not a huge fan of old-school psychometric testing - I think that testing cognitive ability for most roles is far from being a reliable indicator of ability within a real-world position. However, I do believe that analysis that tests for personality can be useful adjuncts to what is witnessed at interview. There are pros and cons for the various formats - Myers-Briggs, DISC, Caliper and the 16-Personality Profile just to name a few - I won’t go into the merits of each here. Suffice to say that they all have their benefits and limitations and can be used to highlight a default personality or behavioural tendency within a candidate and should be used in conjunction with all other strategies being highlighted here.
Utilise References: Validating Fit and Compatibility
The opportunity to talk to individuals who have first hand knowledge of past performance through taking up references is one that should not be ignored. They are invaluable tools for validating a candidate's fit and compatibility with your organisation and yet I’m amazed at either how superficial they often are or sometimes cease to be taken up at all. Take the time to conduct thorough reference checks, asking former supervisors and colleagues about the candidate's work style, communication skills, and ability to collaborate with others. Explore any lingering concerns you may have by asking behavioural-based open questions with a final closed question - '“Would you hire this person again if given the opportunity?”
Exercise Probationary Periods: Testing in a Real World Environment
An interview process is usually 2-5 hours of cumulative time to de-risk a hiring decision - not a lot when you think about the magnitude of the decision, especially when there are people who naturally excel at selling themselves and may be adept at hiding their true character.
Yet the number of organisations that don’t observe an exercisable probationary period (essentially a ‘once you’re in, you’re in’ mentality) or has one but puts no rigour behind it is somewhat astounding. Maybe, if there was more emphasis on this hands-on part of the process, it would alleviate some hiring processes from the inertia they seemingly hit in making a hiring decision.
This is the key, usually 3-6 months when you can really test and learn about an individual’s ability to do the role and how well they fit into the team. It’s almost impossible for true colours not to start to show through if there’s an issue so utilise this period fully.
Set up regular reviews. Have specific objectives and milestones. Seek formal feedback from other key opinion formers, at all levels relative to the individual. Miss this opportunity and the goalposts change significantly once they’re a full-time employee.
Conclusion
Avoiding toxic hires requires a proactive and diligent approach to the hiring process. I see some organisations paying scant regard and others who will literally take 6 months to go through an exhaustive 10+ stage process - the Goldilocks zone in my opinion is a structured, three or four stage process with continuity throughout and all of the aforementioned filters and checks and balances in place. Hiring the right talent is an investment in your organisation's success and longevity, so take the time to do it right.
If any of this resonates with you and you’d like an initial chat to talk through developing behavioural competency in your team, behavioural interview screening or how to ensure that a probationary period is appropriately structured and exercised, please reach out. It could save you and your organisation a very costly hiring decision.
