Hiring can be difficult. There are so many criteria to consider, and it’s easy to get caught up in the details. But hiring the right candidate for your company can make a huge difference in your organisation and its overall productivity. So how do you find that magical unicorn? Here are 3 tips that can help you find the best candidate for that role:
- Consider Skills, Experience, and Knowledge:
These are the most important factors to consider when hiring someone.
- Skills are a person’s ability to do the job. For example, if you want a person who can build houses, you would look for someone with construction & carpentry skills.
- Experience refers to how long someone has been doing something; it can also include actual hours spent doing tasks or projects related to your position (for example: “I’ve been working at this company for four years”).
- Knowledge is what you know about your field of work- what makes it different from other fields like Accounting or Marketing?
2. The candidate should be a great fit for your company culture:
As you search for the right candidate, it’s important to keep in mind that culture is a big part of the job and should be factored into your decision. You want someone who fits in with your existing team, has strong moral fiber, and can contribute to making your company better than it used to be.
A good candidate will have:
- A strong understanding of what it takes to succeed at their role within an organization or team
- An ability to communicate effectively with others in order to get work done.
3. Look for candidates who are motivated and driven by their work:
Do they get excited about what they do? Or do they come in every day with a negative attitude because it’s so difficult or boring? Is their positive attitude evident from their past jobs? You’ll know if someone is motivated by what he or she does with the kind of energy that they bring into their workplace each day; if this isn’t the case then perhaps there might be some other issues at play here that need attention before moving forward with any hiring decisions (e.g., lack of passion).
- Look for candidates who have a good attitude towards others- especially those who may be different from them! This goes beyond mere politeness; it means being approachable without being socially awkward around new people.
- Look for candidates who are willing to learn and grow in a role, even if it’s new or different than what they’ve done before.
- Ask them if they’re willing to take on new challenges that come with the position, such as learning new skills on the job or taking on additional responsibilities within your department or company- even if these responsibilities aren’t directly related to their area of expertise yet (i.e., “I’m interested in learning how to implement X technology to solve this problem”).
Now that you know these tips, here is the step-by-step process that can be applied to help you easily determine the right candidate who will exhibit the skills listed above:
- Application Stage:
The initial application of a candidate is used in the selection process. At this stage, you must have sent out a job posting. There are many job platforms that could be useful at this stage, e.g, Indeed, myjobmag, and so on. You could also create a form i.e Google Forms, for them to fill in their basic details and information that would interest you and your company. After this, you wait till you start getting responses from candidates.
2. Screening of Applications & Resumes:
When you have started getting responses, you can start examining each of them. Going through many applications and CVs is time-consuming and could be prone to errors. You will require a CV review process that can make the process run faster, more smoothly, and reduce errors. You could use a digital screening platform for this part of the process. For example, the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software that stores candidates’ CVs in a digital database which will help to filter hundreds of resumes with the keywords relevant to the job.
It is important when reviewing, to be aware of inaccuracies and lies. Note aspects to assess further at the interview stage.
3. Skill Assessments:
A skill assessment is also a good part of the recruiting process. They are often used to measure technical skills, soft skills, and cognitive skills.
One assessment will not select the ideal candidate, but it will assist you in more efficiently filtering out the least viable candidates. They give you an idea of the personality of your potential candidate.
One advantage of skill assessments is that they can be used in place of less effective methods of screening candidates. Personality tests, resume reviews, and reference checks can all be reduced or eliminated in favor of more tangible, relevant assessments.
Skill evaluations can also help with categorisation. Some can be either a pass or a fail, but many create multiple tiers of performance, with only one or two failing and several others passing. A candidate may pass but may not be considered for a role because other candidates outperformed them. Some skills assessment tools commonly used are; Testgorilla, Survey Monkey, etc.
4. Interviews:
The formal interview stage occurs after extensive candidate selection and shortlisting, minimising wasted time. The interview stage (especially physical interviews), is the most expensive in this process, so efficiency in the preceding stages is essential.
Video interviews help to cut costs while also making interviews more accessible to those who cannot afford to travel. Platforms like Outmatch and myInterview are great for video interviews.
Candidates may be required to go through multiple interviews, each with its own set of specific requirements to be checked off.
5. Background investigations:
For many companies, the interview is the final stage of the recruitment process, but ideally, it should be followed up by background checks. There is a requirement for pre-employment background checks as they are critical to the candidates and the company’s success. Background checks are required for some positions (for example, teaching, coaching, and working with children or special needs patients). You want to employ someone who is accountable and whose position in your company would not be detrimental to the well-being of your organisation and to everyone they would be working with.
6. Reference Checks:
Check all references to ensure that the candidate has not lied about their previous experiences or where they have worked. It’s easy to exaggerate qualifications and experiences in resumes and even during interviews, so reference checks are necessary. Although this stage is listed at the end, it is often best completed before the interview stage because it provides useful feedback that can be referred to during the interview.
Hiring people is not the smoothest, most direct task, but if you follow these tips, you will surely find the right candidates for your company. It’s worth the effort because hiring people is critical for any business, and will definitely bring out the best in your team.