As a Recruiter I know the importance of the Right Hire to my clients and when thinking of that I wanted to present some of the key issues facing anyone looking to hire new talent into their team or company. Finding the right person to join your team can be one of the most crucial tasks in leading an organisation and possibly one of the most difficult. This is why knowing the top hiring mistakes is important to any company and even more importantly knowing how to avoid them.
Describing your “ideal” candidate:
We are all guilty of adding a list of attributes to a job description in order to find the “ideal” candidate who just simply doesn’t exist which means it can be nearly impossible to find and attract a person who has all those skills. When recruiting, your goal should be to define what the job really is and the experience it requires in order for the candidate to succeed and use this as a scale on determining what candidates are a good fit for the role rather than searching endlessly for perfection.
Overlooking Internal Candidates:
Overlooking internal candidates is often a case with many employers while struggling to find the right candidate for a role with their company. Employers will spend many hours trailing through applications and trying to source the perfect candidates via the many platforms available and sometimes forget to look inside the front door rather than beyond it. Have you got someone who is already in your company who is looking to expand their career and is more than capable of taking on a new challenge? It’s a common mistake made by employers to overlook current employees because they may be in a different department and forget it’s easier to train someone who already has extensive knowledge about the company and is interested in progressing their career.
Maximise your interview:
Employers can be quick to judge a candidate for not preparing for an interview but what if it’s the other way around? Without a clear and concise plan for the interview questions will be predictable which will lead to vague and underwhelming answers. Interviews should always include multiple team members because sometimes extra eyes and ears may pick up subtleties that one person alone,who is focusing on the technicality of the interview may miss out on.
Experience over ability:
Often employers will choose to interview someone who has more experience rather than go with that “I got a really good feeling about that person” and believing that the more experience a candidate has the safer the hire, is often wrong. Just because someone has done something for years doesn’t mean that person may have more ability than someone with less experience. Remember, everyone has to start somewhere.
Not completing reference checks:
Failure to complete a reference check for your candidate can be a game changer a month into the job. Everyone has been at the stage where getting the role filled is urgent and overlooking the most crucial part of the application process, reference checking, can be put to the side because you would rather get the candidate started rather than wait for a previous employer to return your call but in reality it’s much better to wait for that call back than having to start the process from the beginning a couple of months later.
Remember when recruiting it’s important to take the time to find the right candidate for your company and sometimes, rushing into a hire just to fill the urgent role may become problematic down the line. The mistakes listed above with hiring can be costly. Here at Three Q we have a rigorous process to ensure the best candidates are offered to interview by clients which mitigates these problems from occurring. Three Q recruiters go on regular site visits to see our clients to find out exactly what our clients’ needs are. We are experienced in screening candidates and we always do reference checks. If you would like to work with Three Q as a recruitment partner, you can learn more about our service here or call us at 01 878 3335
For more reading on hiring mistakes to avoid here’s a great article from Forbes: Hiring Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
