Bad hires can dismantle your company culture and increase employee turnover. It's crucial to refine your hiring process to avoid making those bad hiring decisions. Check out these three best practices to help you find the perfect hire for your organization.
1. Ensure the job profile aligns with your current needs.
What is a "job profile"? The job profile is meant to be a high-level view of a job and what it entails. It should include an overview of:
- Job responsibilities
- Experience
- Necessary skills necessary
- And a pay range
Your job profile should also be forward-looking. If the profile is inaccurate, your candidates will not align with your current business needs. Continue to update and refine your job profile. The skills needed for a job five years ago are most likely different from the skills the job requires now. When writing a job profile, make sure you are considering your ideal candidate.
The profile acts as a foundation for the job itself. If you set expectations clearly for the candidate and what it takes to be successful in the job you're hiring for, you will dodge those mis-hires that come from misunderstandings.The final job profile leads to the creation of a job description. The description is a more detailed version of the profile. The job description is the version advertised, and should leave no room for misunderstandings between the employer and the candidate regarding job responsibilities and expectations. If you have a bad job description, it's nearly impossible for a recruiter to find a great candidate for the role.
Once you have a set job profile that perfectly depicts the candidate that you need and want, stick with it! Try not to lower your standards or make exceptions. The perfect fit will show up.
2. Screen candidates and utilize video interviews.
Pre-employment screening is a crucial part of the interview process. There are many pre-screening tools out there to help you--like this one by the Predictive Index. References can also be used as a screening tool. SHRM advises using all of the references listed on a candidate's resume. View references as an opportunity to learn about your candidate from someone else's perspective.
Another great way to screen candidates is through video interviews. Videos can add dimension to the candidate that is often missed when just reviewing a resume. With video, whether that be an on-demand video sent over to the hiring manager or a live video interaction, you can gauge a candidate's' ability to use technology.
Consider this another step in the process. If a candidate can't figure out the simple technology of a recording, they might not be the best fit. Video interviews also help evaluate soft skills, such as a candidate's ability to engage with people. Maybe you're not ready to have them come in for an interview, or maybe you still have a lot of candidates you are moving through. By utilizing video, you can assess how the candidate will fit into the culture more than you can from a 2-D resume. This way, you won't waste time and energy on the interview process at the office but, you will still be able to narrow down your pool of candidates.
3. Try the "Day on the Job" method.
Once you've narrowed down the candidate pool, bring the top one or two candidates in for a day on the job. This is the perfect way to analyze if they have the skills and abilities to succeed at the job. It also gives you a deeper insight to how well they work with other employees and fit in with the company's culture.
Although it takes a bit more time and effort than your typical sit-down interview, seeing the candidate immersed in the culture of your company could save you from a bad hire.Remember, the interview process begins right when the resume touches the hands, or eyes, of the hiring manager. Every step after that is important when it comes to avoiding a bad hire and reducing employee turnover.
Fine-tune that job profile to make sure you're attracting the best of the best, make sure to screen your candidates and bring your top choices in for another layer of insight.
To learn more about what bad hires really cost your company, check out our blog.