THE FOUR BIGGEST MISTAKES ESTABLISHED COMPANIES MAKE-- Even an experienced entrepreneur can fall victim to pitfalls that lead to ruin. Here, business owners and advisors tell about the four biggest mistakes experienced entrepreneurs make and how to avoid them. ======================================== SO MUCH ABILITY - SO LITTLE PROFIT-- "You have to understand the people represented on the balance sheet as well as the numbers…the earlier the decision to use assessment tools, the sooner the losses can be stopped". ======================================== STEP OUT FROM BEHIND THE CURTAIN-- Maybe you have heard this mantra before, "We only hire the best. We hire the smartest. We never make mistakes. We are never wrong. Even our average people are above average." Right. ======================================== EMPLOYEE DISHONESTY RISK REQUIRES CAREFUL APPROACH-- …the US Department of Commerce calculates that American businesses lose $50 billion each year because of employee dishonesty. The agency also estimates that 75% of such crimes go unnoticed, leaving companies with no possibility of recovering the stolen assets. Barton cited other Department of Commerce figures that show insurers in 2000 paid around $550 million in claims related to dishonest acts by employees. ======================================== JOB FIT OR MIS-FIT?-- Decision making improves when a company has more complete information about job candidates and employees. Promotion and succession planning decisions are enhanced. Training programs become more effective when they can be tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of an individual because the "occupational DNA" of the person has been revealed through an assessment. ======================================== NEGLIGENT HIRING DOCTRINE OPENS MORE DOORS FOR PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING-- At last count, approximately twenty-eight out of fifty states legally recognize that an employer is responsible for, and can be held accountable for, checking the background and references of any job applicant before placing that applicant in a position of high public contact. …In today's highly mobile society, the frequency of personnel changes as well as the transience of the working population as a whole make pre-employment screening a necessary part of any business's hiring process.