No matter the nature of your business, a key part of any company’s success is having quality employees to help run the company and facilitate its growth. Finding the right employees can be a taxing challenge and often more difficult than you initially anticipate.
Ensuring that you hire the right person for the job involves reviewing numerous CVs and covering letters, and learning about each candidate as a person. The right candidate should have the necessary skills and experience required to do the job, but they also need to fit in with the company culture.
These five top tips will help during the recruitment process to enable you to find the right candidate.
- Be clear about job descriptions
It is important that you articulate all the details of the role and the work to be undertaken. You need to hire a well-rounded employee and be sure that he or she has successful experience in each aspect of the job, or the potential to carry out each aspect of the job.
Ensuring that the job description is clear and accurate is vital as a poor job description could potentially limit the employee’s creativity and initiative and the wording used must be carefully thought out to avoid potential problems such as “this task isn’t in my job description!”
Top tip – it can be very helpful to rank your requirements in the order of importance to you. Make sure you do not end up with an employee that is great at one aspect of the job and awful at others.
- Ask the right kinds of questions and let the candidate ask questions
When asked, the right kind of question can tell you a lot about a candidate’s drive and ambition; this will help ascertain whether or not your prospective employee will grow with your business.
Ask open questions, this will encourage the candidate to talk more, and in doing so you will learn far more about them than if they had simply answered yes or no.
Make sure that you do not end up being the only one to ask questions. To help determine if your prospective candidate has the right personality for your particular job, it is important to help that person understand the company by encouraging them to ask you questions during the interview process.
- Skills test
With some positions it may be appropriate for the candidate to do a skills test.
A candidate’s CV may state they can type 60 words a minute, but you should think about creating your own test to record their speed and accuracy. For example a typing test would be appropriate for a candidate applying for a secretarial vacancy.
- Focus on the candidate’s potential
From the interview you should be able to gauge the candidate’s personality and whether or not they would clash with existing employees, or whether they would fit in well. The right candidate should demonstrate their enthusiasm for the company and the job throughout the recruitment process.
Social intelligence and being able to navigate social situations and work well with others is very important. Soft skills such as communication skills and interpersonal skills are desirable skill sets for any candidate. The personality of the candidate also needs to be taken into consideration. A candidate with the exact necessary experience is not always the right person for the job. While having the right skill set may seem essential, the fact is, skills can be acquired, but personalities cannot.
While it is important to find someone that has the necessary qualities to fit the job, it is also important for the person to feel like the right hire for your existing employees and the company. If you sense during the interview process that the candidate does not feel like they would be a good hire, there is a chance your gut could be right.
- Review social media profiles
How a person behaves on social media can be a good indication of what kind of person the individual is and whether they may fit into your company and its culture.
Many employers often complete a quick internet search on the candidate’s name to see what comes up, but is this really enough? Have a look what type of photographs they are posting on Instagram, or what they are tweeting about on Twitter. If you’re not looking through various social media profiles you could be missing out on a key way to find out more about the candidate as a person and potential employee.
If the candidate is mindful and aware of the impact social media profiles can have on their career they may have their privacy settings restricted so that only those authorised to view their profile can do so.
A poor hiring decision results in a waste of time and money spend during the recruitment processes, which ultimately affects the business’ profitability. Follow these five tips to avoid making a costly mistake.
If you need any assistance during the recruitment process, or with any employment and HR issues speak to Tom Evans on 0151 2230 1217 or email tom.evans@dtmlegal.com
