The vast majority of hiring managers and recruiters have made a hiring mistake in the past. While this not only affects the team, but also the company at large – hitting production, morale and profits in the long run.
In addition, when a mistake is made, you’re back at square one, trying to hire another candidate for a position you just filled. So what can you do to avoid this from happening with future hires? Here are 5 tips for polishing your hiring process and reducing the chance of a bad hire.
#1: Standardize your hiring process.
Your hiring process can’t be inconsistent and cumbersome for candidates. This will impact the quality of your candidates and potential new hires. Avoid this by reviewing your current hiring practices, identifying weaknesses or places where there are inconsistencies, and then create a standard hiring process. Use this across all of your hiring, from the way you write job descriptions to how you interview candidates, verify background information, and conduct skills testing.
#2: Evaluate your talent pool.
If you’re consistently seeing poor quality hires or have had a few hiring mistakes, it could be due to the candidate pool you’re targeting. Perhaps you need to focus on a different segment, or widen your pool and reach more potential new hires. You also might need to rethink your recruiting parameters. For instance, are you willing to make a job telecommute or virtual instead of in-house? If so, then your talent pool is far bigger and you can be more selective.
#3: Engage with candidates.
More and more companies are realizing that in order to attract top-quality people, they should be treating candidates more like customers. When you do the same, you can improve your employer brand, attract smarter, more creative candidates, and eventually find and hire the right-fit individual.
To do that, make the application process simple and straightforward, ramp up communication with candidates, keeping them in the loop about next steps and progress, and make sure your company has a robust social media presence, so you’re promoting your brand to potential new talent. The more you focus on a candidate-oriented approach, the more interested the best candidates will be in applying.
#4: Use skills testing and homework assignments.
Don’t hire in a hurry and skip assessments like these. When you evaluate first-hand a candidate’s skills, knowledge, and ability to meet a deadline, you’ll go a long way in avoiding bad hires. Why? Because when you give potential candidates an assignment or you require skills testing, you’ll then have hard data on which to make a decision. You’ll know: can the candidate actually do the job? This will set you up for a more successful hiring decision.
#5: Get help from a Spokane recruitment firm.
If you’d like to partner with a recruitment team in Spokane and get help with hiring, turn to Provisional Recruiting. We are experts in recruiting, hiring, vetting and evaluating talent and can help you hire your next talented candidate. Contact us today to find out how.