Hiring a new employee is a tedious task that every law office manager faces. But what if, two months after hiring a new employee, you realize that you have simply hired yourself?
At first this may not sound like a terrible decision but, by taking a step back and looking at what hiring yourself really means, you’ll notice that every employee at the organization has the same strengths and weaknesses that you do—and the gap you set out to fill a few months ago is still there.
You are not alone. Seventy-four percent of leaders surveyed by Corporate Executive Board (CEB), a best practice insight and technology company, say that the person they most recently hired was “in their own image.”
Yet, creating a balanced and diverse workforce is the key to having a successful and ambitious business of any kind, including a law firm.
Here are a few tips from Insights on how to avoid hiring yourself:
- Understand your strengths and weaknesses so you have a jumping off point to acknowledge the gaps that you need to fill in your team.
- Take a mental step back during the recruitment process and fight the urge to dismiss skills that fall outside of your comfort zone.
- When putting together a new job listing, don’t ask for what you want; ask for what you need.
- A homogenous team can make bad business sense, but a team of people with different backgrounds and experiences is key to success.
Keep in mind that hiring isn’t about putting together a team of people you can have cocktails with; it’s about building a balanced team that is smart, creative, and committed to getting the job done.
