It’s all about the work. Most managers make hiring mistakes because they didn’t know what they were looking for in the first place.

• How to know what you are looking for?
• How to transform that vague picture into specific deliverables?
• How to communicate that picture and deliverables to the hiring team, to make sure you are right?

I will know it when I see it, sets up the hiring manager for failure. Success is based on luck.

Work is a funny notion. Many managers focus on getting in touch with candidates, all warm and fuzzy. Not my purpose. Instead, get in touch with reality. The purpose of hiring is to get some work done.

Work is making decisions and solving problems. Few hiring managers think about the problems that have to be solved and the decisions that have to be made in a team member’s role. That is where it starts. The hiring manager is looking for someone to make specific decisions and solve specific problems. Until we figure that out, we will never hire the right person.

Here are the power questions to answer before you get into the interview room –

• In this key area, what decisions have to be made?
• What is the time frame for those decisions?
• In this key area, what problems have to be solved?
• What is the time frame for those solutions?