Let’s face it. When we forecast our annual budgets, we calculate how many new hires we need, how much we are willing to spend, and what resources we will use to bring them inhouse. But how accurately are you measuring employee retention within your organization and the cost that goes along with turnover? Moreover, what are you doing to ensure your top performers remain engaged and happy working for your organization?

Here’s a stat: 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions (Harvard Business Review). That means companies are making long-lasting mistakes right from the beginning. In addition, one of the top 10 reasons top talent leaves a company is because they don’t feel they are contributing directly to the company’s goals and objectives (The Balance).

To help combat these startling employee retention stats, it’s important to incorporate some critical steps into your interview process.

One of the most important steps you can take to increase employee retention is outlining expected deliverables for the position BEFORE interview process.

Outlining deliverables with your hiring team BEFORE the interviewing process begins entails putting in writing all things the new hire needs to achieve in the first 30 days, first quarter and first year. This step is important for the following reasons.

1. It will ensure that your hiring team is on the same page and that any questions or concerns about the role are flushed out before interviewing beings. In addition, this helps paint a very clear picture for the candidate on what “success” look like for this position. Knowing up front what is expected will alleviate any guess work and will install additional confidence in your new hire and your internal team.
2. It will provide a better platform for a strong interview with engaging questions and answers. Have you heard that the average resume review for an interview is a mere six seconds and the typical hiring manager takes only 10 minutes preparing for an interview? This way of interviewing leads to critical mistakes and is only 6% effective in predicting performance on the job for candidates. (Predictive Index).
3. It will lead to better performance from your new hire. According to a recent study, 63% of US workers are let go due to performance issues and failing to hit performance objectives (FastCompany). It’s time to tighten up the interview process and focus on the facts. Once you accurately define deliverables with specific timelines and expected results, you can sculpt your interview questions around those deliverables. Having strong interview questions around performance will lead to hiring better quality candidates that will meet your company’s goals and objectives.

Written by Jonathan Reynolds, CEO at Titus Talent & Certified Partner at The Predictive Index