Spring is here and I’m thinking optimistically. Maybe your business is seeing some small signs of life and you just may need to hire personnel down the road after all! Whether it has been quite a long time or not since you last hired, hiring conditions now are somewhat more ‘interesting’ than they used to be.
In the last year, anyone who has hired can vouch for the fact that adding headcount is a little more exciting than it used to be. There are a lot more people on the market and all are sure they are perfect for your open positions. You will receive somewhat on the order of three times more resumes than in previous job postings. You can’t afford to have a hiring mistake. Keep these tips in mind to guide you as you interview:
- Plan to interview more people than your norm as there are many more that ‘appear’ to fit the job description, but you won’t know for sure until you speak with them.
- Consider a phone interview first to quickly prescreen potential candidates.
- Be picky about candidates who have job hopped over the last several years. We rarely see that type of employment history change and you don’t want to be the next ‘one-year stop’ in their career path.
- Be careful not to over-hire; i.e. hiring someone overqualified for the position. While it is tempting to get more experience at a lesser salary, it is likely the candidate will continue their job search if salary isn’t comparable to their recent history. Also, if the position is several levels below their skill level, they will quickly become bored.
- Be cautious of those laid off. There are many excellent candidates on the market who were laid off, but there are also many who were the weaker employees that were let go. Ask questions to put the layoff in context. Was their whole department laid off, was an office closed, a branch closed, accounting operations moved? Or were they one of three people from a large company that was ‘laid off’?
- Interview for personality and fit. If I were given the choice to hire someone needing a little training but having a great personality OR a person with 110% of the skills but a cold fish, I would hire the person whose personality fit my organization best. If the skills are mostly on track, a great personality can bridge the gap and really foster an excellent morale in the office.
- Carefully review the resume for gaps in employment that may be hiding behind dates of employment. Ask questions when people only supply years of employment instead of months and years, such as 2009 – 2010. You will not truly know if that was 12/31/2009 – 1/1/2010 unless you ask.
- Consider the elements of the position that are critical to success and make sure to explore with the candidate thoroughly. Understand what skills and experience they have that translate into that needed skill. Ask open ended questions.
- Check references religiously. This is not a time to skimp. Many companies will only give dates and titles, but even corroborating that information is valuable. Other companies will give you a brief reference on the candidate which can really give insight into what you are about to hire.
- Check the authenticity of any written references brought by your candidate. Call the person authoring the reference to confirm they wrote the reference.
- Consider making the job offer contingent upon an acceptable criminal background check and/or drug screen. Make sure you understand the policy of your company because you want to hire everyone on the same basis.
- Clearly communicate your next steps in the process. Out of work candidates are understandably anxious. It is immensely helpful for them to know an estimated timeline of your process. Always touch base with every candidate you interviewed to either let them know they are going to the next step or not. Don’t leave them wondering.
- I recommend interviewing a candidate approximately 2 to 3 times. A second view of the candidate is essential to the decision process. Oftentimes, a company will have another manager or department interview during one of those visits to help ratify the decision. Resist the urge to bring the person back for more than 3 interviews. Bringing a candidate back for 6 interviews, for example, is overkill in my opinion and drags on the process without adding much value.
Using these tips, you can avoid some common pitfalls and make sure you next hire is a good one.
Partner with Talis Group on your next hire and be assured any candidates referred will be interviewed, skills tested, if appropriate, and referenced checked. We do our homework to make sure the candidate would be a good fit for your open position. Many other agencies just send resumes harvested from the internet without interviewing at all.