By: Dominick Sirianni

Everyone that has researched resumes agrees…as many as 80 percent contain misleading statements and 53 percent contain actual lies.

-Dr. John Sullivan

Read that quote again. Now think about your hiring process. Now read the quote again. Now think about the success rate of your new employees? Now read the quote again. Now smack yourself across the face.

Why are you relying on a false statement from a biased person to drive all of your recruiting efforts?!?!?

Business today is overrun with facts. We’ve brought numbers to every element of American business culture. We rely on data mining to uncover big data to help us make decisions with data. The modern office vernacular is overrun with references to data, measurement and accuracy…except when recruiting.

When we recruit, we rely on a sheet of paper full of self-reported quasi-information from a candidate whose sole motivation is to get hired. We pretend these resumes are accurate enough to justify our wasting countless hours interviewing the candidates who either spent enough money on a resume writing service or happened to include the phrases our recruiters – or resume checking software programs – are looking for.

During these interviews, we ask any myriad of questions and most of us – in the privacy of a confessional – would say we have absolutely no idea what we are looking for or how to judge a good candidate from a good liar.

Don’t use a resume to determine qualifications then interview to determine fit.

According to the Society for Human Resources Management, 71% percent of HR professionals agree that pre-employment testing predicts employee behavior. Follow these five steps to revamp your entire recruiting and onboarding process and save yourself countless hours while increasing the quality of your new-hires.

1. Evaluate your current staff and determine the profiles of those doing well in their role.

2. Test every applicant and look for how closely their profile matches that of your top performers.

3. Interview those candidates.

4. During the interview, use the resume as a guide to ensure you get a full picture of the candidate’s experiences.

5. Hire only the candidates with strong profiles and demonstrable, relevant experience.

Like any bad habit, this one takes some time and commitment to break. Once you do though, you will see incredible results not only in your performance but in how much easier it is for you to succeed.

 

Dominick is the Vice President of Operations at Primavera Online High School overseeing IT, Admissions, Client and Student Services departments. He has spent more than a decade working with organizations that leverage technology to help students gain access to quality educational programs.

Dom is the founder of REP Consulting Group. Through REP, Dom helps businesses use the power of research to educate their audience and profit from the value they bring their clients. To gain competitive advantage in most industries today, you have to out-spend or out-teach your competitors. Dom has applied his experience in education to entrepreneurship and REP’s clients succeed by investing in their audiences through publication of valuable content. Through REP, Dom serves as Vice President of Interactive Education for the Internet Marketing Association. He hosts a series of webinars and podcasts focusing on modern marketing techniques.

Above all, Dom is a proud husband and father.