EDITORIAL by Marten Runow

To describe the main problem with hiring in just a few lines is actually not hard. You simply hire someone who made a good impression but who does not produce anything of real value. Even worse, you hire someone who secretly destroyed what was previously functioning. Most executives I learned to know have had that experience.

If you are lucky it costs you a few thousand Euros and some lost time; if you have bad luck it could cost you millions or even the survival of the company.  How bad it can be is quite unreal until you actually see or experience it.

It is quite accepted knowledge that the higher up in an organization you look, the more devastating a hiring mistake can be, BUT, there are many examples of how a wrongly employed “low-level” employees can wreak havoc and become extremely costly, both financially and emotionally, causing major clients to leave, upsetting the most productive and functioning personnel, creating unnecessary expenses or penalties,  etc. That is why professional hiring experts will normally say that there are no unimportant personnel. A real team can be compared to a chain, in which there is simply very little room for weak or unworkable links.

We hope to shed considerable light on this whole area to make hiring in your operation not only safe but also highly effective and profitable. For that to happen, we would like to make sure that you and the people who take care of your personnel and hiring do not have any critical “holes” in their knowledge.

The intention behind this magazine is to bring hiring out of the “gambling zone” and transform it into a rather well-controlled activity. Ideally, the time and attention of you and your colleagues should be on things that enhance productivity and pertinent flows.

Wishing you and your hiring all the best!