How to select the best candidates - and avoid the worst

Few companies will avoid all of the following failures: people who panic at the first sign of stress; who don't have the ability of learning; hypochondriacs (persons who worry about their health too much) who must be present but stay away; and the unstable person later discovered to be a thief or worse.

Less dramatic, but just as much a problem is the person who simply does not come up to expectations, who does not quite work; who never becomes a high-flyer or even a steady employee.

The first point to remember at the recruitment stage is that people don't change. Intelligence levels refuse modestly, but change little over their working life. The same is true of abilities, such as learning languages and dealing with numbers.

Most people like to think that personality can change, particularly the more negative features such as anxiety, low respect, impulsiveness or a lack of emotional warmth. But the information collected over 50 years gives a clear message: still stable after all these years. Extroverts (persons who like to spend time in activities with other people rather than being quiet and alone) become slightly less extroverted; shy persons appear a little less so, but the fundamentals remain much the same. Personal crises can affect the way we deal successfully with a difficult situation: we might take up or drop drink, drugs, religion or relaxation techniques, which can have rather dramatic effects. Skills can be improved, and new ones introduced, but at rather different rates. People can be taken care of the appearance for a job. Just as politicians are carefully dressed, have good hairstyle and speech specialists, so people can be sent on training courses, diplomas or experimental weekends. But there is a cost to all this which may be more than the price of the course. Better to select for what you actually see rather than try to change it.

3. Read the article again and answer these questions.

1) What types of failures do companies experience, according to the article?

2) What is the worst failure managers can deal with?

3) What advice does the article give to managers?