Groundhog Day: Are you stuck in a pattern of hiring the wrong talent?
Hiring the wrong talent is costly. It has an impact on your team’s performance and productivity. Plus, if you have to replace an employee because he or she is a bad fit, it involves more recruitment and training costs. Moreover, as Dan McCarthy points out in his article “5 Exorbitant Costs of Making a Bad Hire on Your Team” for The Balance Careers, it can adversely affect your own reputation as a manager.
So, it’s only logical that if you keep recruiting the wrong talent, you need to improve your hiring practices. Keep the following five tips in mind.
- Write good job descriptions. A good job description includes more than simply a list of required qualifications and job responsibilities. According to Lauren Weber in her article “The Simple Change That Attracts Great Job Applicants” for The Wall Street Journal, if you want to improve the quality of applicants, it’s important to mention what your company can do for the candidate. So, remember to note things like opportunities for advancement, as well as company amenities and policies that promote a good work-life balance.
- Encourage employee referrals. One of the reasons many new hires don’t work out is because they don’t fit into the company culture. However, if you ask your current employees to refer candidates, they’re likely to suggest people who possess the desired qualifications and who are a good cultural match.
- Improve your interview process. In her article “How to Improve Your Hiring Practices” for , Christine Lagorio-Chafkin reports that many hiring managers don’t allocate sufficient time to the interview process. She recommends reserving more time for each conversation, as well as designing tests and crafting open-ended questions that elicit responses that really demonstrate whether or not a candidate is the right match. For example, instead of asking if someone functions well under pressure, you can ask a pressure-filled question such as, “Tell me about a time you made a mistake and how you corrected it.”
- Check candidates’ references. In her Forbes article “The True Cost of a Bad Hire — It’s More Than You Think,” Falon Fatemi advises following up with applicants’ references. This can offer new insights into candidates’ characters, skills and qualifications.
- Move quickly. Sammi Caramela states in her article “7 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process” for Business News Daily that the best candidates are off the market in as little as 10 days. So, if you’re interested in someone, follow up with him or her quickly and frequently to discuss further details of the job and clarify the progress of the hiring process.
Changing your hiring process according to these tips can soon help you attract better candidates. And if you really ramp up your interview questions and aptitude tests, you’re likely to find talent who are both qualified for the job and a good fit for your company culture.
Source:
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7155-startup-hiring-tips.html
https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/04/improving-hiring-practices.html
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-2275951
https://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2015/02/11/the-simple-change-that-attracts-great-job-applicants/