Hiring great people is NOT easy. If it was, every company would be doing it. Obviously, this is not the case. However, you’re not concerned with every company—you’re only concerned with your company, and rightly so.
Unfortunately, the hiring process is like any other process: the people involved in it are susceptible to forming habits. Of course, habits can be both good and bad, and many times when it comes to the hiring process, those habits are bad.
So not only must you identify the bad habits, but you must also break them and replace them with good ones. Then you must practice those good habits until they become second nature. That, all by itself, will improve your hiring process.
However, what specific things should you do? What are some of the good habits of which we speak?
Below are three crucial tips for improving the quality of your hires:
#1—Know the job description and position thoroughly.
This is ground zero. If you “miss the boat” at this early stage, then it almost doesn’t matter what you do the rest of the way. You can’t have a fuzzy idea of what the person will do within this role. You need to know exactly what they will do, including all of the duties and responsibilities involved.
Only then can you formulate a crystal-clear profile of the ideal candidate, including their skill level and experience, as well as their soft skills and interpersonal prowess. After all, it’s difficult to hire exactly what you want if you don’t know exactly what you want.
#2—Assemble an interview TEAM.
Having just one or two people interview the candidate is a mistake, especially if the people will be directly involved with the position in question. You not only need to have multiple people interview the person, but they must also represent a cross-section of your organization.
This means people from other departments should be involved, including those who can bring a different mindset and mentality to the task of deciding if this person would be a good fit.
#3—Have a conversation, not an interrogation.
You need to know as much as you possibly can about each candidate. How do you acquire that knowledge? By getting them to open up about themselves, and the best way to do that is to get them to relax and lower their defenses. You want the person to talk about not just their professional goals, but also about what motivates them and even their weaknesses.
The goal is to have a candid conversation, not a one-sided interrogation. If a member of your team is especially warm and inviting and able to make candidates feel at ease, then consider letting that team member talk with candidates first.
The list above represents three good habits that every organization should incorporate into its hiring process. Before you can make them a habit, though, you have to implement them and utilize them at least once.
If you have questions about your company’s hiring process and what you can do to improve it, then consider reaching out to a search firm with the experience necessary to help identify and recruit the best candidates in the marketplace.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of organizations. If this is something you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.