Is the person sitting in front of you the best candidate for the job? A properly planned and well-executed recruitment strategy is the best way to ensure that you’re hiring the right person for the job. It is crucial to the company’s success to hire the right person with the right job at the right time.
Talent acquisition is a skill that companies should be prepared to develop if they want to grow and succeed in their field. Having a formal hiring professional or team or outsourcing the task to a specialist firm are good options.
By putting time and work into finding the best talent, you will improve your chances of hiring the best performers and avoiding costly and painful mistakes. The average cost of a bad hire is up to 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Another report from the CEO of Link humans put the average cost as high as $240,000 in expenses. The costs included hiring, retention, and pay.
Hire the right person at the right job at the right time for company’s success.
7 Basic Steps to Hire the Best Candidate
In a study, 34% of CFOs said that not only do bad hires cost them productivity, but managers also have to spend 17% of their time supervising poorly-performing employees. Companies must have a good hiring process to zero in on the right person for the job in place to save on costs, time and productivity in the long run. Here are some tips to help you hire the best candidate for the job.
1. Clear job descriptions
Having a clear idea of what the job entails is important. If you are clear about the position and what all it encompasses, finding the right person to fit that description gets easier. Create a job description for the position in the company, including the responsibilities, level of skills, and experience required. And during the process hiring filter out the applicants according to the description.
2. Look for a good cultural match
To recruit the best people, you need to know what your company needs. It would be best if you were clear about the company’s mission and values and that they match the prospective recruit’s values too.
3. Prepare well-structured interviews
After the initial weeding out based on years of experience, skillsets, and educational qualifications, have a potential scorecard for grading the candidates that have been singled out for the next step in the recruitment process. During the interview, be prepared with a relevant list of questions. Involve other people. Let the immediate supervisor or manager sit-in along with an HR professional.
Use behavior-based interviewing techniques. This means have the candidate enumerate on actual achievements and specific instances where they face challenges and how they solved them.
4. Test
Another possible step before the interview process can be an assignment or that tests the skills for which the person is being hired. A practical demonstration of their skills and knowledge.
5. Look beyond the CV
The best-qualified candidates on paper may not always be the best fit for the job. Hence, be more specific about asking the right questions to gauge a person’s personality and how they might fit in with the company’s culture. For example, if the person has always worked solo fitting in with a team might be difficult. Or if the candidate has worked in a big corporate entity, working in a small firm, albeit a well-paying one might be difficult.
6. Ask for references
It’s always safer to take the time to verify references. Reference checks remain one of the best sources of information about candidates. If possible, ask around from previous colleagues or managers.
7. Onboard
Research indicates the retention rate of new employees can be increased by as much as 40% with a solid orientation program. Pair the employee with a mentor to help him or her settle in the new job.
Once you have made the final decision to hire the best talent, be sure to convey the same clearly and precisely with all the documentation done properly.