The cost of doing business is rising dramatically. Included in this is the cost to recruit and hire talent to join your team. It’s estimated that the total cost of one hire can exceed $30,000 when relocation and set-up expenses are included. That cost is minimal compared to the lost opportunity cost or the potential damage that can occur if the wrong candidate is hired.

Similar risks are present when promoting an employee into a position of greater responsibility. Frequently, the mistake is made of assuming that an employee who is successful in a particular position will automatically have similar success in a different position. This can be true; however, when different roles have different needs, a different skill set is often needed.

You can minimize the risk of making a poor decision and improve your probability of success. This article outlines simple but powerful tools that can be easily and quickly applied to many situations. A real-world example of how the Mercury MerCruiser division of Brunswick Corp. utilized design for Six Sigma (DFSS) tools to hire the right candidates for their engineering apprentice program is shown, and this example provides step by step instructions on the use of these tools.

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