Who you choose to hire makes a big difference to the success of your organization. A hiring decision can have a long legacy, so be sure to set the stage for success. Planning, preparation and more efficient processes will save your company in the long run. A bad hire can be a very expensive mistake!
The first step to making a good hiring decision is to know what you are looking for. You need to take the time to make a thorough job description so that you know exactly what the role involves. Once you know about the job requirements and essential qualifications, you can adapt your job search to find the right talent for the role.
To recruit the right talent, you need to look in the right places. One of the most effective means of making a good hiring decision is to implement an employee referral program. Employee referrals have a much better success rate in recruiting — the applicant-to-hire ratio for employee referrals is 10 to 1, whereas it takes 72 applicants from traditional sources to make one hire.
Be sure that you also tap into the potential of social media. Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are great tools to recruit passive candidates and those who already buy into your brand and culture. Use a modern applicant tracking system to manage your postings on job boards and social networks. Over time the analytics will show you which of your sourcing strategies has brought the best results, making it possible for you to target your search and save money while making a good hiring decision.
The efficiency of your recruitment process says a lot about your company. Be sure to make the best impression by creating a good candidate experience from start to finish. A talented candidate is also interviewing your organization, judging whether or not it is a good workplace. A good hiring decision relies on a talented pool of candidates, so do all that you can to ensure that you don’t turn off potential employees with a poorly run hiring process.
Hiring is best done in teams and the right team is essential. Don’t just put anyone on the hiring team — create a team that represents both the hiring section and your human resources professionals. The team should include the direct supervisor of the position you are filling, as well as someone who has a thorough understanding of the position and the duties involved. As mentioned, interviews work two ways and when attending an interview, a candidate is getting a feel for the people they would work with. So ensure that you are also selecting your most personable staff for the interview team.
Structured interviews are key to making a good hiring decision. You need to set a level playing field in which you ask each candidate the same questions — this way you are comparing apples to apples when it comes to decision time.
It is important that you not just strike up a conversation with each candidate and go with your gut. You need to ask specific recruiting questions that are relevant to the job and its duties. Use your detailed job description to create realistic scenarios so that you can accurately assess each candidate’s knowledge, skills and abilities. This will give you insights into how the candidate would perform on a day-to-day basis.
Set out a workflow for your hiring process so that you can keep your goals front and center. Set goals for the must-have qualifications you need to find in a candidate, as well as goals for when you will complete each step of the hiring process. Delays hurt your hiring process by making it cost more and giving candidates a poor impression of your company. To make a good hiring decision, you need to ensure your most talented recruits remain interested and available.
A hiring process can easily be set off-course if it isn’t given proper attention by the hiring team. Set up a schedule for your hiring process and ensure that the hiring team sticks to it. A modern applicant tracking system is a great help, with built in alerts to let you know when you are approaching a deadline or when candidates are spending too long at one stage in the hiring funnel.
Follow these seven tips and you are all set to make a good hiring decision.
Happy hiring!
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