As a business owner or hiring manager one of your most important and difficult responsibilities is the hiring of new staff members. The process itself is time consuming and the ramifications for a “bad” hire can be great.
Taking the time to find the right person, someone who is not just technically capable but also a good cultural fit for the company is important. Businesses that have more good outcomes than bad in this area have processes that include attracting high-quality candidates, evaluating them in several different areas, and taking the time to get to know the people in different ways. There are a number of options to do this and we focus on the main concepts below, although there is no absolute right or wrong or the perfect process that gets the best candidate every time!
If you’re not careful your job description or advertisement can turn potentially great candidates away. This can create a misunderstanding around the role on offer that can also cause problems later on.
These days it’s not all about your company and what you want, what’s in it for me (WIFM) needs to be considered from the potential candidate’s perspective. What is it that you and your company are offering the potential employee that differs from other employers in the market?
Put more of the focus on what your company can do for potential employees, and you’ll attract candidates who better fit your needs.
In the era of instant gratification, internet and electronic devices most people do not want to work for companies stuck in the past still using old technologies. Most people want to work for companies that keep up with the latest tech trends. This would especially apply to millennial applicants up to the age of 35. This generation want to work for digitally enabled organizations, which means businesses have to stay ahead of the curve in order to retain employees and attract new ones.
Remember to make sure your job board and website are mobile-friendly as many of today’s potential applicants use their smartphone in some way to search for a job.
Skills can be taught or acquired, but attitudes or personalities are with us for life. Although the right skill set may seem like the most important factor in whether a candidate is a good fit for a particular role, the truth is that the candidate’s behaviour is equally as important, if not more.
Is the candidate a leader? Will they follow instructions? Can they work in a team? Are they someone to be trusted? These and other soft skills must be considered in the hiring process. It is not enough to say they are skilled in what the do, but they must align with your company vision.
Emotional intelligence and being able to navigate social situations whilst working closely with others is extremely vital in the modern-day work environment.
Most employers will do multiple reference checks as part of the hiring process and even police checks if the work is in a security-sensitive environment. But if you’re not looking through the candidate’s social media profiles (Facebook), you could be missing a key way to find out more about the individual as a person and an employee for better or for worse.
While you shouldn’t allow a candidate’s social media activity to factor into your hiring decision, it can give you a better picture of someone you’re interested in hiring.
A candidate’s personality is another important factor to consider. For example, a trait such as empathy would likely be much more important for a nurse or a social worker than it would be for a forklift driver or a machine operator.
Today there are many personality tests such as McQuaig, which enables you to have a better idea of the kind of person you are hiring and whether they will fit with the culture of your organisation. If you want to find out more information on personality profiles such as McQuaig and how they can help you hire the right candidate, please contact HORNER by clicking HERE!
Often failures exhibited by new employees may result from flawed interview processes. It may not be the fault of the new employee that they cannot complete the task required because it may well be that they should not have been hired in the first place.
In these instances both the employer and employee have often been let down by the interview process. The interview could have focused on the wrong issues, the interviewer may have been rushed, or simply hired the person because they liked them or the candidate appeared “safe”. As a consequence red flags are missed and neither party ends up happy once the successful applicant commences in the role.
You can’t come right out and ask someone if they are emotional distressed or have suffered from mental illness in the past, but you can ask questions that will help you figure it out on your own. If you ask someone why they left their last job and they blame someone else, it’s important to follow up with another question such as why did they leave the job before or simply dig a little deeper on the issues they faced in the previous role and how they were able to overcome these issues.
If the answer continues to be the same and some else is to blame that should be a red flag. After all who is the common denominator in each situation? You may want to look for another employee.
Allowing prospective employees to interview you will give you a chance to see what’s important to them, it will give candidates a chance to determine whether they want to keep pursuing a job at your company, or to decide that it’s not the right fit for them.
You must be open and honest about what it’s going to be like to work for your company. It’s important you want to give a realistic preview of the work environment otherwise this step will be ineffective.
This information should be considered as general advice only and if you have any questions about the content above, please reach out to your nearest consultant by reaching us through our contact page.
Thanks
The HORNER team.