Opinion: Ask the right questions when hiring

Have you ever made a bad hire? I can assure you I have.

The key to addressing a bad hire is a quick decision to set their future free. I’ve made the mistake of not ripping off the Band-Aid sooner and limiting the damage. If you’re a business owner or in a leadership role, you’ve also probably been involved in or observed a bad hire.

I think what often leads us to make a bad hire is our tendency to focus on skills, talent, industry expertise and a host of other things that are arguably not the most critical factors. In certain professions, knowledge and expertise will be the most important qualifiers, and it’s true to some degree in all jobs. However, it’s easy to overemphasize the importance of ability while overlooking a few critical factors.

Here is the question I find most helpful when considering a new hire: Are they a good fit for my company culture? And a second one, related: Will this person make a positive contribution to our culture going forward?

If the answer is no to either of these questions, the future will be an uphill battle. Now, if your company culture has already gone south and you are comfortable with that, then maybe these questions don’t matter to you. But in the Paragon family of companies, we work hard to maintain the strong, positive company culture that we’ve built. Just a few weeks ago, we hosted our 2022 year-end celebration, where we had our full enterprise represented and our company culture on full display for employees, spouses and guests. As our employees accepted their awards and guests got a taste of what it means to work at Paragon, the thing I heard over and over was that the culture and the people are everyone’s favorite things about working inside our ecosystem.

Culture is something we have to work hard to protect when making new hires. Adding talent and people who make positive cultural contributions is what makes the company stronger. Having a positive company culture is what makes employees want to come to work every day, serve clients and make a difference in their lives. It encourages people to be better tomorrow than they are today. It inspires them to want to bring their A-game to work every day; that’s a win for clients and the company.

Another important factor is whether I want the potential hire on my bus. Will this person add value to the team?

Initially, I am not as worried about whether their skill set aligns with the job description. What I am thinking about is, do I want them on my bus? We have several buses with different roles, and I want the right people on each one. Many of our people moved through several seats before we found the ideal fit for them, and that’s OK. We want to give each of our employees an opportunity to hit home runs in whatever seat is the best fit.

There have been many times when I’ve met someone, either in an interview or somewhere unrelated to work, and thought, I want this person on my bus. I may not know which seat I want them in yet, or where their skills will be best, but I know I want them on my bus. I want their character, skill set, expertise or even their electric, positive attitude added to the company culture. Several members of our organization hopped on the bus before we ever knew what seat they would fill, all because of the value we knew they would add to the culture.

Lastly, sometimes the people you thought you needed on the bus are actually the obstacle that is preventing you from moving forward. It happens, and that’s OK. But overall, we find significantly more success in finding the right cultural fit than we ever did when we hired purely on skills and abilities.

Donnie Brawner is CEO and owner of Paragon 360 and Paragon Fabrication. He can be reached at dbrawner@paragon360.com.