How to Know You’re Hiring the Right Person
Every hiring manager has the desire to make sure that the candidate they choose to fill a role is a great fit on all levels.
We understand that there is a lot of time and effort put into the process so hiring the wrong person can cause disruptions to your company with time, money and other resources. This Blog looks at signs a candidate could be a great fit.
Is there a mutual fit?
When you’re creating a job description, pay attention to the longevity of the role and not just the near future. Think how your ideal candidate would fit in with the growth plan for your business. Getting a sense of career goals at the interview process will give you some stand out candidates on whether they are the right fit.
Seek references:
It may be tempting to skip this process as it can be time consuming. However, it may be the most valuable process to help you avoid any problems further on down the road. It’s not about verifying their past employment history, but rather understanding how they work and who they are as an employee.
Make sure the candidate has met the team:
This doesn’t necessarily mean every employee (particularly if in a larger team), but the selective few that the candidate will be working alongside. Seeing how the candidate networks with other employees and how they react to different types of work situations can be beneficial. This doesn’t mean throwing them in at the deep end by asking them to do unreasonable tasks but could be something as simple as having a coffee with the team. The ideal time for this could be on a second interview so it would be less of a surprise to the Candidate.
Top Tip! This technique allows you to have a range of your current employees’ opinions when it comes to your hiring decisions.
What questions do they ask?
It’s common knowledge for candidates to ask intelligent questions. However, you want the interview to become less of a question-answer session and more of a discussion. This way you will notice the difference in what the candidate may say. If the interview balance becomes less one sided with interviewing Candidates, they will feel less in the spot light and will most likely form better answers because the nerves aren’t getting to them as much.
Top Tip! Allowing your Candidates to relax will say a lot about your company because it will show you’re a caring team to work for.
Be clear on your expectations:
It’s important to be honest about the road ahead, you don’t want to give the wrong impression of their duties being light if the candidate will be wearing several hats. Both you and the candidate being clear and upfront will enable you both to decide for yourselves whether or not all will be a good fit. Besides, you would rather have someone drop out of the process now rather than 3 weeks into the job.
Consider a second interview: If you ultimately can’t decide or are stuck between two candidates, don’t be afraid to conduct a second interview. Bringing in a prospective hire to help brainstorm ideas on tasks or projects will allow the decision to be clearer to you. Look at how they operate, were they keen to give you fresh ideas?