Listen up, hiring managers. A study from research firm Development Dimensions International revealed yesterday that many employers often misrepresent the finer details of their company and the open position during interviews, leaving many recruits eventually disappointed with their new job.
Specifically, the survey found that only 51% of new employees "felt confident in their decision to accept the job." DDI found this figure after surveying 2,300 new hires with an average age of 35.
"…[H]iring is a high-stakes interaction and managers are not necessarily capable of discerning what a candidate can really bring to a company. So they base it on gut instinct and a lot of times that gut instinct is wrong," Scott Erker, DDI’s vice president of select systems and co-author of the study, told The Wall Street Journal.
When asked what they wished they had known about their company and position before accepting, the study's respondents provided the following key answers:
- "…[T] he expectations and requirements of the position, and the culture."
- "A more realistic preview of the current state of the organization and the anticipated future challenges…Had I known, I would not have accepted the offer."
- "How my job relates to the bigger picture."
- "I really didn’t know what my job was going to be until I was mostly through orientation. I didn’t end up staying in that position past the first three months."
Then when asked what types of questions they had received from hiring managers, the survey's respondents highlighted a series of inquires that were not relevant to the open position, according to the The Journal. They include:
- "Can you set up your own VCR?"
- "Do you believe there is life in outer space?"
- "Just entertain me for five minutes. I’m not going to talk."
"A lot of times, hiring managers aren’t trained, or if they are, they don’t pay attention to the training," Erker further told the newspaper.
But as the study showed, the companies that do provide accurate job descriptions have a much easier time retaining and connecting their new employees. Of the survey's respondents who said they received accurate job descriptions, 93% said they were highly engaged with their company in one question, while 78% said they were not seeking another job in another question.