National Survey Reveals CEOs' Major Hiring Concerns

For Immediate Release
Contact: John Manning
Tel 949.608.0039
mapmarketing@ mapconsulting.com

(Los Angeles, Calif.) — Imagine how your company would run if nearly half of its employees performed below average or turned out to be a hiring mistake. Unfortunately, this very real, stressful and costly scenario is playing out for many top CEOs, according to the 2007 Management Action Programs (MAP) Quarterly CEO Survey conducted by Vantage Research. Survey results indicate an “at risk” employee-success rate, given that 32 percent of the CEOs report that up to 50 percent of their NEW employees haven’t been meeting expectations over the past two years.

“CEOs don’t have faith in their own companies’ hiring processes, which isn’t surprising given their companies’ relatively poor track record in hiring consistently successful employees,” says Allan Hauptfeld, principal of the Valencia-Calif.-based Vantage Research & Consulting (info@vantage-research.com).

The 2007 MAP Quarterly CEO Survey is a new effort to track business leaders’ professional perspectives and behaviors. Additional second-quarter statistics point toward a breakdown in hiring systems as the culprit behind this “at risk” employee-success rate. Again, more than a third (36 percent) of CEOs lack confidence in their company’s hiring systems, rating them below average. And when these employers discover a strong candidate for a position, they often cannot afford to bring them on board.

“Just finding the ‘complete package’ in a potential employee, that is, with appropriate skills and training combined with the right attitude and work ethic, is very challenging for these CEOs. Then, if they DO find that candidate, offering an attractive compensation package becomes the next major hiring hurdle.”

Lee Froschheiser, President/CEO of MAP, a business-consulting firm that has accelerated sustained growth for over 13,000 companies and 160,000 executives since 1960, says the at-risk hiring process is very serious. The cost of losing a new hire can run two to three times his or her annual salary — both in hard and soft dollars — and the expense is sometimes much higher than that. “It’s extremely expensive and frustrating for many CEOs, but these same business leaders do not have solid on-boarding systems to support finding talented employees.

“As this survey validates, on-boarding the right people is hard work and a major challenge. This is in alignment with what I personally hear from CEOs and HR representatives nationwide, who say they’re really struggling with this issue. Despite all the books out there on the topic, these employers aren’t exercising the fundamentals of a good hiring process — and suffering because of it.

The survey also uncovers that CEOs worry about how today’s current events could impact their company’s potential. However, it’s “internal issues” that keep these business leaders awake at night.

“Given their hiring and employee challenges, it’s no wonder that ‘internal company issues (growth, employee retention, marketing & sales)’ outrank all external issues (economy, fuel prices, real estate fluctuations) in importance to future business performance,” Hauptfeld says.

The survey indicates that CEOs rely mainly on referrals to source new employees. Other methods, listed in order of popularity, include: print advertising, online advertising (e.g., Monster.com), external search firms and their company website ads.

About MAP
MAP offers business leadership training and consulting services to organizations nationwide through its Western U.S. offices. MAP has an active alumni network, providing its supporters online seminars and value-added communications.
mapmarketing@mapconsulting.com, 888.834.3040.