Stop focusing on hard skills. As stated above, almost 50% of discrimination claims are retaliation cases. What it means is that in many cases, retaliation from the employer occurs after personality clashes and/or emotional reactions in the relationship between a senior and his/her junior.

For example, few people knew that Steve Jobs personally interviewed over 5,000 applicants! Howard Shultz at Starbuck has always bragged about being more HR-oriented than any other CEO – managing 200,000 employees, he considers that putting the company focus on HR is THE reason of Starbucks success. In his book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins discovered that the most successful corporations, over time, are those who invest more time and energy in the recruitment & on-boarding process.

A study by Hiscox found that U.S.-based companies have at least an 11.7 percent chance of having an employment charge filed against them. Hiscox claims data for small and mid-sized businesses (under 500 employees) indicate that one in five will face employment charges with an average cost to defend of $125,000, which includes expenses such as attorney’s fees and settlement costs.

The successful hire is one with a mindset of achievement and results. There is a huge difference between achieving something and doing something. People are either more result-oriented or more action-oriented. And that makes the whole difference. You do not hire people to do things but to accomplish a specific result on a specific job.

HIRING IS MARKETING! Your challenge is NOT to find good people, it is to ATTRACT them. They are out there and there has never been so many. And if they never come to visit you, they will visit your competitors, take a job there and help make your life/business miserable!