Cracking the Retention Code

The Nine Steps to Successfully Hiring for Fit

Hiring the right person goes beyond just being the cost of doing business; it’s a crucial business activity. From day one, the selection process signals your company's values and shapes your organization's future success and sustainability. Drawing from my experience and research in my book, “Selecting the Best,” I offer a proven, behavioral-based approach to ensuring that your next hiring decision delivers a new employee who fits your culture, contributes productively, and is likely to stay for the long term. After all, ultimately, it is your people who will either drive or limit your company’s success.

Treat Hiring as a Business-Critical Decision

Instead of viewing recruitment as a routine administrative function, recognize it as a strategic investment. A poor hiring choice can cost your organization multiple times the annual salary of the wrong hire, not to mention the hidden losses in morale, brand, productivity, and culture. Nothing signals chaos and disarray amongst existing employees more than high turnover in other positions. The right hire strengthens your culture and operational continuity.

Bust the Myths and Focus on Real Requirements

Abandon myths such as “best practices” being universally transferable, or that you only need “A players.” Rr that psychometric tests are the best predictors of performance. Remember that each organization is unique. There is never a perfect off-the-shelf solution. Your culture and context demand customized selection criteria. Data shows that recent and frequent demonstration of the desired behaviors is a far stronger predictor than universal templates or generic assessments.

1. Define Your Organization’s Values and Behavioral Competencies

Start with your authentic values and define them in observable, behavioral terms. Do not use canned lists or theoretical constructs. Ensure they are stated as behaviors and not simply outcomes. Involve your top performers in “critical incident” interviews and focus groups to identify what behaviors differentiate the “highly successful” from the “adequate” in your unique setting. Values like “respect” or “ownership” must be illustrated by real-life, concrete actions - make things are tangible as possible.

2. Specify the S.K.E.B.E’s: Skills, Knowledge, Education, Behaviors, Experience

For every new hire, identify and prioritize:

• Skills: What must the person do, starting on day one?

• Knowledge: What essential know-how is required?

• Education: Only include if truly job-relevant (avoid unnecessary degree requirements).

• Behaviors: Which actions demonstrate fit with your organizational values?

• Experience: Focus on quality, not tenure (three years of true learning can outweigh ten years of routine).

For each role:

• Narrow down the essential 5–6 skills, knowledge requirements and behaviors needed for success on day one.

• Avoid unnecessary degree or experience requirements unless justified by business need.

• Define the critical behavioral competencies and value-driven actions in your context.

3. Structure Your Interview Guide and Questions

Use structured behavioral interviews, the method proven by decades of research to be both accurate and fair.

• Write all interview questions ahead of time, based on your values-driven competencies.

• Questions should be open-ended, ambiguous, and strictly about what the candidate actually did in real situations, not hypotheticals or what they would do.

• Refrain from using any of the prompts (who, what, where, when, why, how) until after the candidate finishes telling their story. Probing too early cues the candidate to answer in a way they think you want, reducing the authenticity of their answers.

4. Use Panel Interviews and Train Your Interviewers

Convene a panel of three trained interviewers rather than only one. Why?

• Panels reduce bias.

• They capture more of the candidate’s responses.

• They allow for consensus-based decisions rather than “hiring by gut or majority vote.”

• Shortening the time to hire.

All interviewers should take experiential training in structured behavioral interviewing and calibrate on what “success” looks like in your organization before conducting actual interviews.

5. Score Objectively and Reach Consensus

After each interview:

• Each panellist scores independently using a calibration sheet with explicit anchors (0 = never demonstrated; 4 = demonstrated multiple times, recently).

• Only after independent scoring do panellists discuss their ratings, share evidence, and reach consensus.

Never let the most senior person speak first to avoid biasing others.

6. Validate with Fact-Based Reference Checks

To ensure the stories are true, ask for references specifically from within the stories that the candidate shared. This moves past empty platitudes and validates actual behaviors.

7. Wisely Integrate Testing and Background Checks

Psychometric or personality tests should only be used as a supplemental tool, not as a primary screening or selection filter. Ensure any test is validated for your geography, language, and culture.

8. Deliver an Exemplary Candidate Experience

Remember: The hiring process is the first phase of onboarding. Candidates judge you as an employer based on every interaction, and their journey begins with their first impression of your selection process. Treat every candidate with respect and transparency.

9. Structured Onboarding and Retention Follow-Through

Once you hire, continue structured onboarding, clarify values and role expectations, and check in with “stay interviews” in the first 6 months to maximize retention and engagement.

Conclusion

Accurate hiring that aligns with organizational values, supports a positive employee experience, and boosts productivity doesn’t happen by accident. It demands:

• Thoughtful job-person-culture fit modeling,

• A carefully structured and executed behavioral interview process,

• Disciplined fact-based scoring and consensus, and

• Intentional onboarding and support.

Get this right, and you’ll not only select the best - you’ll keep them, too.

David S. Cohen is the author of “Selecting the Best: Fostering a Workplace Driven by Values for Lasting Success,” amplifies each of the points of this article using a combination of research and anecdotal stories. The appendix contains sample behavioral interview questions.  Selecting the Best is available on Amazon and other online book sellers.