I have carried out quite a few interviews in the past few weeks and have been shocked at the seeming dearth of good talent. Many people come across as being half baked, totally unprepared for the interview and not even bothering to find out in-depth the roles they are interviewing for. The biggest shock however is that these people are in good high paying jobs already.
How are they performing on the job? Little wonder that many organisations are not doing as well as they would expect. There must be a gap at the point of recruitment. I believe I need to reiterate how to hire great talent. This is just so that we get the right people into the right jobs.
Hiring great candidates begins with the recruiter. They are the cornerstone of sourcing, recruiting, selecting, and facilitating the hiring process of candidates. To do this, they need various skills and experience in enacting several different methodologies and strategies.
Communication is one of the most essential recruitment skills because not only are recruiters the crucial link between candidates and the company, but they also have a variety of other responsibilities that require well-honed communication skills. This coupled with attention to detail is a must-have recruitment skill.
Recruiters deal with a lot of information related to the people in the departments that are hiring and the candidates themselves. That is why successful recruiters need to have an eye and an ear for detail. After all, even one missed detail can result in a bad hire, reputational damage, and wasted time and hiring resources.
Hire people for their future potential, not just their past achievements.
Start with creating a good job description paying attention to how you see the position growing within the next few years. How does your ideal candidate fit into your growth plan for your business? Understand how the candidate’s aspiration fits with the job.
Read also: HR experts give tips on interviewing for a dream job
Therefore we usually want to know their career goals during the interview. This key part of the interview. It really helps us see what a candidate thinks of the available job and if they could be a good fit. Is there an alignment between your job candidate and the company’s goals?
Many companies get references as routine and may not do it at all or do it when the person has already been employed for months. Not vetting properly can create problems down the road. References are not just about verifying past employment history—it is about understanding how they work, and who they are as a co-worker and an employee. Match their past performance to the desired output you want,
Do not hyper-focus on their past Does this contradict the previous advice?
No, while it is important to thoroughly screen potential candidates, there is a difference between making sure you get a solid sense of the work style and capabilities of your candidate and diving too deeply into the minute.
Instead of making them go through their history, focus on how they would solve problems that would occur as a part of the role you are hiring for, and sussing out their potential. Hire people for their future potential, not just their past achievements.
There are some innovative ways of interviewing. There is the one on one. There is the panel interview. There is the group interview which allows you to see the personalities displayed as a group of candidates are given a case study or so to work on. There is the stress interview again to help see how they would react under stress.
There will be a part two to this conversation because of its sheer enormity. Once we all tighten our entry posts the prospective candidates out there will understand that they cannot do the minimum and expect the best. They cannot do the minimum and expect to coast along when they get the job.
We must not accept a lackadaisical approach by interviewees. Hiring and being hired is very serious business indeed and must be conducted as such. A porous border is one of the worst things a company can allow.
The weekend is here again. This is to wish you a restful weekend. I hope you have done your Christmas shopping and are ready for all the subdued celebrations. Subdued because Covid- 19 protocols are still on. May we all be preserved.
If you need my help, you know where to reach me at [email protected].
