I have always advocated the “try ’em to see if you like ’em” theory of hiring whenever you can pull it off.
Business Week has written this week about Test Drives in the C-Suite, which suggests a growing trend toward a “temp-to-hire” process to see if an interim executive is the best choice to fill a full-time position.
While this may not always be possible, it acknowledges the difficulty of the recruiting process.
Even with all of the latest peer and panel interviews and behavioral interviewing techniques, the odds are still probably less than half that a lasting, high-performing executive will be selected. Business Week fails to mention some of the downside … the cost of educating and training interim executives that don’t work out … but one could argue those costs are no higher than for a normal hire that falls short.
A trial period has another advantage in that it should drive a quicker decision, which falls on the right side of my mantra, “hire slow, fire fast”.