What does an Effective Hiring Strategy Look Like?

Often you will hear us compare an effective hiring process to dating. There are so many similarities: 1st dates, tests, 2nds, wish you could combine candidate A’s skills with candidate B’s personality. But what does effective hiring look like?

To understand what effective hiring looks like we need to know who is the suitor in the hiring process – the company or the candidate? Though both parties are trying to determine whether or not it is a good fit, the company is the suitor. What the company or hiring manager does during the entire process effects the candidates perception of the culture, people and determines whether or not they want to work for your company.

Avoid these pitfalls to better your chances with attracting and winning over that ideal candidate:

1. Recession mindset

Come’ on people we are not living in 2009 when there was 23% unemployment rate - it is 5% with some careers such as accounting as low as 2%. There are not hundreds of applicants applying for 1 position; you may have 6 applicants for your role and only 1 that is qualified. You may not have multiple candidates with your ideal skill set to vet against each other, so you really need to understand what the deal breaking skills that required.

2. Old school thinking

Let’s get one thing straight; Tenure Does Not Equal Competency! If you hang onto this thought process you may miss out on ambitious out of the box millennials who could be Rock Stars for your organization and get the complacent B player who is really good at flying under the radar and doing just what they need. Give each candidate a chance.

3. Not listening

The key to a good interview is asking a question, allowing the candidate to give their response and then probing deeper based on the answer you heard. If you do more talking about your expectations, management style, etc; how much are you really learning about the candidate or his/her experience?

4. Treat others as you would like to be treated

Treat your candidate’s with RESPECT! If you are late to in-person interviews and are a no-show for phone interviews, what message are you sending? Do you really want your successful candidate believing it is acceptable or a common practice to be late for meetings or ok to miss deadlines?

5. Curiosity will kill the cat

We have all been trained on what not to ask candidates, so why do we still put ourselves in risking situations. If a candidate mentions their family, it is not an open door to ask how many children they have or if they are married. Politely listen and move on to your next line of questioning. You never want to open yourself up to a discrimination claim. If you haven’t had effective hiring training within your organization, it is well worth the time and money.

6. Scaring candidates

Every role has its challenges, but by not framing the information correctly will lead the candidate to believe the task is insurmountable and you could talk the candidate out of accepting the job. You should be honest, but not sabotage your ability to fill the role.

7. Selling yourself and the role 

It is your responsibility to sell the company, yourself as the hiring manager, and the role to the candidate. Why should the candidate chose your company or even you over other opportunities. What will they gain by taking this role?