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Hiring Decisions Miss the Mark 50% of the Time

Thu Oct 2, 2008 3:42pm EDT

First of Its Kind Study Reveals Experiential-Based Selection
                Techniques Improve Recruiting Outcomes
ARLINGTON, Va.--(Business Wire)--
Organizations or their new hires regret their hiring decisions 50%
of the time, costing the average organization millions in the way of
lower performance, less engaged new hires, and higher turnover. The
Recruiting Roundtable, a division of the Corporate Executive Board
(NASDAQ: EXBD) publishes the first study of its kind in quantifying
the negative impacts of poor selection decisions in hiring employees.
The study details several contributing factors, including that 40% of
new hires report the information they received about the job when they
were applying was less than accurate. Overall, only half the time will
organizations and new hires achieve a win-win outcome where both agree
that they made the right decision.

   "Given the high cost of early career turnover, organizations
cannot afford to make the wrong hiring decisions," says Senior
Director Donna L. Weiss. To save millions, the Roundtable aims to help
organizations reach that win-win outcome closer to 100% of the time.
After analyzing data from more than 8,500 hiring managers and 19,000
of their most recent hires, the Roundtable identified three important
reasons organization fail to consistently hire high quality
candidates: (1) they over-rely on candidates describing themselves
rather than having them demonstrate what they can do, (2) they don't
follow a consistent, evidence-based selection decision process and (3)
they fail to provide the candidate with enough information and
'experience' about what the job is really like.

   Based on detailed quantitative analysis and over 100 interviews,
the Roundtable has identified 10 key strategies that organizations can
deploy to improve their selection processes. One recommended approach
is to move beyond the traditional selection process to include an
experiential component to the process. Weiss adds, "By providing
candidates with an experience that is either 'on-the-job' or that is
key to job success, organizations can better observe a candidate's
capabilities and a candidate can get a better sense of what the job is
really like. This is one way to drive to more win-win outcomes."

   This study is one of many published by the Recruiting Roundtable
to serve as a source of innovative ideas and answers to many of the
immediate business problems that organizations face. The Roundtable
comprises experts providing best practice solutions with research and
tactics to optimize process implementation and save organizations
millions of dollars.

   About the Recruiting Roundtable

   The Recruiting Roundtable provides research, training, and tools
to help recruiting executives and their teams make decisions that
achieve the highest return on their investments. Roundtable services
address key recruiting challenges in areas such as recruiting
strategy, sourcing, candidate assessment, diversity management,
employment branding, onboarding, outsourcing, metrics, workforce
planning, among others. Additional information on the Recruiting
Roundtable can be found at: www.rr.executiveboard.com.

   About the Corporate Executive Board

   The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) provides analysis and
authoritative guidance to the world's most successful organizations.
With a member network of over 80% of the Fortune 500, the Corporate
Executive Board delivers indispensable resources for timely
decision-making on all issues related to strategy, operations and
general management. For more information, visit www.exbd.com.

Corporate Executive Board
Joni Renick, 571-303-4074
jrenick@executiveboard.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008


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