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Most Common Mistakes to Avoid Before Hiring For New Business
From time to time, businesses are required to recruit. It can happen due to some reasons including an employee leaving for further studies; business expansion hence needs to increase workforce, end of contracts and so on. Employees contribute immensely to the overall performance of a business. It is for this reason that the HR needs to be particular and keen when it comes to hiring. Most of the time the importance of the hiring process is sidelined while it should not. It leads to HR making hiring mistakes which become a problem, in the long run, affecting the operations of the business.
As the HR of any given organization, big or small, the following are some of the hiring mistakes that you should avoid.
Talking more than listening
Do not always focus on the stream of questions listed in your notes. Most interviewers rush the candidates through a set of questions to get time to get the next candidate in. It is a terrible mistake. Using that approach will only get you as far as you may want to hear. There is a lot you can learn about the candidate if you would just let him guide the conversation. You also need to focus on the resume they provide. You can quickly pick something from it and let the candidate expound. That way, you have a better chance of knowing whether the employee fits the role or it is not the ideal one.
Not clearly defining the duties
Most HR practitioners end up being on a wild goose chase by advertising job vacancies and not clearly stating what it is about. What happens next? Everyone who feels they meet the qualifications ends up running to the interview. On knowing what is required of them during the interview, they end up being disinterested. To save time and to focus only on candidates who would be up for the task, it is advisable that you clearly define the duties. Before sending out invitations to an interview, let the candidates know the work ahead, who they will be reporting to, the type of skills required for the job, the kind of person needed and their responsibilities.
That way, you will be able to narrow down the candidates to the most suitable ones that would be able to work. It also makes your work as the interviewer less tedious.
Lack of a hiring process
The absence of a hiring process may cause an organization to end up having all the wrong people employed A hiring process should be uniform for all interviews. The company should be able to state if resumes need to be sent, two interviews will be conducted and so on. Also, there should be processes for internal hiring. They should not be any different from external recruitment.
The guidelines in place should also be communicated to the candidates so that they can appreciate the importance of the process.
Side-lining cultural fit
You do not want to employ someone that will shortly feel out of place and resign. Cultural fit is something that most HR do not pay attention to. A candidate may meet all the requirements but may not at all fit in your organizational culture. Unfortunately, you might have to reconsider his employment. What does this tell you? Academic qualifications and achievements are not the only things you should be focusing on. There is more to hiring than that.
While it may be tasking to establish whether a candidate fits, bring in third parties during the interview would be a nice way of identifying if this person will be able to blend in. You can have other employees interacting with the candidate and let them give you feedback on whether or not the person would be able to work in that environment.
Ignoring the references
Believe it or not, only a small number of interviewers go through the references. For most the references seem to be just something that needs to be in a resume. References have more importance than they are deemed to have.
If you want to know the kind of employee you will be having, reach out to the references provided in the resume. As much as you may be tempted not to reach out, do not miss. A candidate may seem perfect in the flesh while you might be having problems with them. Also, learning some of their weaknesses through references will help you in coming up with effective measures to handle them and know how to work with them. There are things that the candidate may not tell you, but the references will be more than glad to. Also, it will be a way of finding out if the candidate is honest: does the information provided in the resume legit?
Not having sound judgment
At this, most interviewers make the mistake of going extreme with their instincts. They will either trust it too much or underestimate it. When this happens, they end up being blinded. They may have the wrong judgment of a candidate or too trusting and fail to carry out due diligence. As much as the gut gives one guidance most of the time, it should not be something that you solely rely on. It should be coupled with other ways of establishing whether you have the right person for the job.
Rushing the process
You should take time to prepare for hiring. Speeding the process will do you more harm than good. While you might be thinking that you are getting it done with, you will end up hiring the wrong person who you will end the business relationship shortly afterward and take you back to the process all over again.
Hiring is essential to the operations of the organizations. You need to avoid the mistakes above to have an active process. More so, there are tools that can help you carry out a skill assessment test to make your hiring process more efficient.
