Are You Bringing on the Best Worker or the Best Personality?

In an ideal world, employers would get the employee who is both a great worker and exhibits a fantastic personality. Remember, I said the ideal world.

Truth be told, many employers end up getting outstanding workers who have the personalities of a door mat or workers whose personality lights the room on fire, yet they can’t think their way out of a paper bag. In a day and age where employers use internal human resources, outside staffing agencies and even social media sites to get a better idea of who they may be interviewing and ultimately hiring, just what exactly should companies be looking for when adding to their payroll ranks?

Know the Cost of Hiring Someone?

Keep in mind, the average expense of hiring and orientation for a non-exempt employee was reported a decade ago to be approximately $1,100 (Saratoga Institute - 1999 Human Resource Financial Report). The average cost of hiring and orientation for an exempt employee came in at around $9,000 (Saratoga Institute). While the cost of replacement figures will differ from company to company, take note that today’s tight economy makes hiring the right people all the more critical.

I have always been of the belief that while finding a strong worker with a good personality is the ideal catch, there are many more cases where you will end up with one or the other.

When you hire someone who is more than qualified for the job yet they tend to keep to themselves, you typically end up with:

* A worker, who will give you 100 percent on the job, yet may shy away from after-hours activities involving the company. They also may keep to themselves during the day and not engage in a lot of one-on-one conversation with others;

* A worker, who is not going to be one who needs much attention and/or micromanaging. This person knows what is expected of them and will come to work regularly with the attitude of accomplishing the goals and tasks set for them.

When you hire someone who is mildly or extremely personable yet they may not entirely focus on their jobs, you typically end up with:

* A worker, who will in most instances, be very outgoing and take part in different office functions. They may end up being the life of the party in the office, so one may wonder if they’re not spending too much time talking and not enough time concentrating on their jobs;

* A worker, who oftentimes takes it upon themselves to bring others into the fold as far as office happenings both during and after the work day. This person can sometimes have too much placed on their shoulders as far as helping to bring the team together outside of work or for in-house functions. Remember, you did not hire them to be a party coordinator in most cases.

One of the oftentimes overlooked factors when hiring people is where and how they will fit into your corporate structure.

If you’re hiring someone for your sales team, you want an individual who is outgoing and can make a connection with both current and potential clients. Someone who is more to themselves is not in most cases going to be a good fit. Conversely, the people you hire for in-house work that will not have direct contact with customers and/or upper management do not necessarily need to be bubbly and outgoing.

Another factor to keep in mind when hiring is where the individual will be placed.

Some new-hires are great fits for your company individually, but then they find themselves lost and unhappy when you match them with a manager who is of the complete opposite personality. Conversely, you may hire someone who is more than qualified, yet lacks the ‘people skills’ to be entirely productive. Yet, when you match them up with a stellar manager, you can see them emerge from their shells.

As you can see, there are a myriad of things to consider during the hiring process.

Both talent and personality are just two of the things to consider when the interview process begins.

Dave Thomas writes for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.