[crispyambulance]

    > But I have many colleagues who make mistakes [...] dig a hole for themselves, double down on the mistake, and the either back their way into job security with their mess or end up moving on once the chickens come home to roost.

A skilled practice of behavioral interviewing can, I think, mostly screen out such candidates. People who have a habit of "doubling down on their mistakes" will find it hard to wiggle around pointed behavioral questions which require the candidate to describe real experiences and answer follow-up questions.

The problem is that most organizations are terrible, TERRIBLE at evaluating candidates. They forget that interviewing candidates is a skill in itself that needs to be developed and needs to be consistent across the organization.

Moreover, these same organizations fail to "close the feedback loop" when it comes to evaluating employee performance. The "annual review" data can be put to good use by informing hiring decisions. Instead annual reviews are just an irritating burden used for the purpose of carving up the raise/bonus pie. It is basic engineering... evaluate your outputs (employees), then use that data to adapt to your inputs (candidates). But virtually no one does it, because its all tied up in HR-bullshit instead.