The Effective Hiring Manager

1The First Principle of Effective Hiring—Don’t Hire

When you first think you might need to hire, think again.

You don’t have to hire immediately when you have an opening. The strategic-thinking Effective Manager considers other options first. That’s how your CEO wants you to think.

Most managers, when they learn about an opening on their team or are overloaded with work, immediately start thinking about asking for permission to hire. We’re consumed with approval and process thoughts.

The average manager just naturally assumes that when someone leaves, you hire someone else. But that’s one of the ill-considered ideas that drives executive leaders crazy. To an executive, there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone . . . but there is something very wrong with hiring reflexively.

If you work for a smart director [manager of managers], she’s going to ask you a few questions when you ask for permission to hire.

“Did you consider not filling the job?” No. [Huh??]

“Why not?”

This exchange does not make this manager seem like a creative thinker, or a manager who thinks about his role in the organization. This manager is thinking about himself, but the director is thinking: he’s not a big picture guy. He’s just a cog in the system, doing his job. Low likelihood of upward potential.

To an executive, an opening is not “a spot that has to be filled.” To a leader, it’s a cost savings in the form of less salary. You read that right. It’s an opportunity to be creative. It’s an opportunity to ...