Often find yourself too bogged down by the weight of choosing the right candidate? Here is how the process gets simple.
The efficiency of a company depends upon the efficiency of its employees. Employees are, quite obviously, the most elemental unit of a company. And this difficult task usually befalls the Human Resource Department, or the HRD.
Here Is How You Turn Difficult Hiring Decisions to Absolute Ease – Get rid of hiring bias
Objectivity is the key to hiring right. This is the most elemental core of all hiring, across the world. However, against the desired norm, there always is Affinity bias that trickles down into the whole hiring process, at some point or another.
When a person walks in with the same background, gender, age, race or hobbies, a recruiter is more likely to choose them for the job, based on the affinity bias.
It is necessary to know here that the more diverse the group, the more productive and innovative it ends up being, as opposed to a homogeneous group.
Hiring on the basis of performance alone
The first impression may be the last. But it is too soon to find out how one would perform by just a few interactions early on. Just chit chatting (basically what happens in traditional interviews) is inadequate a measure to determine if the person you hire fits the profile or not.
To avoid such hassles, introducing a performance-based hiring would be helpful. Starting out with a performance-based ad, which focuses on what the candidate should do, and not what they should have done, you would be getting deeper insights.
This method also helps to rule out biases of any type, and only competent and worthy candidates make the final cut.
Look beyond the CV
As a matter of fact, a CV is the most glorified version of a person. The candidate would do anything to get the job. If that anything involves slight exaggeration of their skills, abilities and achievements, then it will be done. Statistics suggest that nearly 85% of job applicants lie on Resumes.
In order for you to make an accurate decision, going beyond the CV is mandatory. Researching a person’s LinkedIn Profile, cross-verification of the contact details and past work-experience added before the interview might come in handy.
The process thus becomes tedious, but is still better than hiring a person who judges the facts. In the long term, the ROI will far outweigh the efforts put in.
Just filling the position is not the goal
One of the prime reasons why HR executives settle for less worse is because it takes far too long to find new people. According to a specific research, it takes, on an average, 48-52 days to perfectly fill a position.
If there happen to be less people on the team, and more positions to fill, this buffer may befall too heavily on your shoulders.
The end note here simply is to not make a hire than to make a wrong one. Your astute decision, no matter how long it takes, will do the company better than harm in the long run.
Get the approval of your stakeholders
If there are internal stakeholders involved in the hiring process, then getting a green signal from a majority of them is necessary. The approval of key members of the panel would go a long way in helping your decision about the job offer.
This decision can sometime take a while. Your candidate might just bounce off, if made to wait too long. As an HR executive, offer a deadline, and make sure the stakeholders stick to it. If the stakeholders require more time to come to a conclusion, then loop in the candidate and share the updates on the progress with them.
Resort to Final reference checks
It often is common to sign up a candidate if they seem to fit the profile too well. They may have impressed you with their dazzling skill set, but the truth eventually may vary. Always make sure that you run final verification or reference checks to know if the facts provided by the candidate are true or not. It does not do harm to call up those numbers on their CV and run some basic protocol questions.
Be thorough with the questions
When you are given the task of manning the company, doing it haphazardly would only mean disaster in the long run. Structure your interviews so that there is no subjectivity clouding your decision.
SWOT analysis can help you structure your interview questions. SWOT analysis is basically determining the following:
>strengths
>weaknesses
>opportunities
>threats
It helps to profile the company, and then assessing the profile of the applicant and determining if they fit the designation becomes easier.
A specialised SWOT tool may help make the process simpler. It not only assists in an informed decision making but also ensures that a meticulous analysis delivers long term ROI.
Choose the right selectors
Assembling the right hiring team is half your hiring task done. If the team is efficient in doing what it does, then the candidates it signs in would be impeccable.
There would be thorough verification from all sides, and less discrepancies. The perfect hiring team should have the direct supervisor of the position that’s being filled to add credibility to the claim that the candidate fits the role well.
Be objective throughout the process
Objectivity, as we have mentioned before, is a mandate. However, maintaining consistency throughout the process is even a bigger mandate.
Just because a candidate has impressed, or has not impressed just you, does not make him too good or too bad a candidate.
Take the opinion of others, and ensure your subjectivity has not led you to make the decision you’ve made.
The End Goal matters
Decide on a workflow for hiring the right candidates, and stick to it. If you dangle with the way you conduct your interviews, you might end up missing out on really good candidates.
Avoid unnecessary delays and try to think on your toes when a problem arises. This will cut down on time, and help you hire the right candidates faster.
Wrapping it up
When you decide on the most effective candidates for a position, you are offering your astuteness and judgemental skills towards the overall progress of the company. The HRD is the most crucial aspect of thriving company, and making sure each member is worthy of being where they are, is of prime importance.
Peter Davidson – Senior VP marketing
