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In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche

Finance

How to Avoid a Major Hiring Mistake

daniel , , ,

The hiring process isn’t something that you want to take lightly. Picking the wrong candidate could upset a comfortable working environment. It could damage productivity. It could be a complete waste of money and time. And soon enough, you’ll have to restart the job search all over again.

You can avoid all of this mess by picking the right candidate for the job the first time around. How can you do that?

Pre-Screen Your Candidates

Prescreening lets you filter out any candidates that aren’t qualified. The more filters that you have in place, the better your chances of finding the best pick for the position.

The applicants that don’t meet your expectations will be sifted out before you even have to set up interviews. Here are some filters that you could apply:

  • Ask specific questions in the job listing. This will catch anyone who is sending a resume without carefully reading instructions.
  • Do keyword searches with the resumes that you receive. If they don’t include essential keywords (“proofreading,” “multi-tasking,” “file management”), they can go straight into the rejection pile.
  • Do cursory social media searches.

For a thorough pre-screen, you should use a recruitment website. They will only send you applicants that are qualified for the position. For instance, if you’re looking to add a member to your legal team, a legal recruitment company will have legal headhunters collect their top clients and send them over to you. They use database selection, networking, direct search and advertising to access the top workers in their field. So, you are guaranteed to have the cream of the crop right away.

Pre-screening makes sure that you have the best of the best making it through to the interview stage. When it comes to qualifications, there will be no unpleasant surprises.

Look for Soft Skills

It’s important that you look for soft skills in job applications and interviews. You don’t want to pick someone that has lots of experience completing office tasks but that is rude when they answer emails or refuses to help out their coworkers. Emotional intelligence should hold just as much weight as professional experience.

An employee with a terrible attitude can be just as damaging as an incompetent one. By bringing them onto the team, you could create a toxic work environment and alienate staff members. You could risk pushing clients away and hurting the company’s positive reputation.

Things that you can look for before and after the interview:

  • Are they polite in their emails, phone calls and video chats?
  • Do they ask you any questions? Are they curious to learn more about the company?
  • Are they on-time or early?
  • Do they handle feedback well?
  • Are they confident when they answer questions?
  • Do they have any examples where they’ve helped past coworkers?

Essentially, you have to ask yourself whether you would want to work with this person. If they won’t be a welcome addition to the team, don’t shake their hand and offer them the job.  

You will receive hundreds of applications for the job position. Use these two solutions to cut through the long line of unqualified and undesirable candidates so that you can be sure that your final pick is the best one.