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When it comes to making sure you hire the right employees for your business it can be difficult.
Let’s face it, no one is coming into an interview with the idea of making themselves seem less than perfect for the job one way or another.
Whether they are the self-proclaimed perfectionist or someone who doesn’t have the background in that field but is “a quick learner”, everyone has their way of letting you as the hiring manager or the business owner know why you should hire them.
TAKE YOUR TIME
Yes, hiring quickly helps alleviate pressures that have been shifted to other staff members when there is a new vacant position. Or, it could help reduce the workload on yourself or your current staff. No one is saying that it isn’t beneficial to fill empty positions as soon as possible.
But, you want to hire the right employees, right?
After all, after hiring someone you are investing time and money into this person. Why not make sure it is a great fit?
Don’t have time? Consider having someone else call or interview the candidates first. That way you can eliminate some (or hopefully all) of the candidates who sounded great on paper but weren’t what your company needs when they were interviewed. Then you can interview the remaining candidates and make the final hiring decisions.
This is, after all, your business, or if you are the hiring manager, your job.
REVIEW THEIR RESUME OR CV IN ADVANCE
Hey, hopefully they are coming prepared and having done their homework, so should you. So read over their resume or cv and their cover letter beforehand.
This doesn’t have to be a long process, but it will help make sure you get the most out of your time interviewing each candidate.
Look over their job history to get an idea of what their skills may be. I honestly ignore any “skills” written on a resume, it is usually just fluff.
However, if you look over their listed duties for their previous jobs you can get an idea of what they are familiar with. If you are looking for a certain skill, ask them about it.
Also look at their length of time in each job, is anything concerning? Of their jobs was there one that they didn’t list a reference contact for? Get clarification on why they didn’t list this position’s reference if it is within a few years.
When you read through their cover letter highlight or write notes on what you want to discuss. For example, maybe on their cover letter they mention their goals with your company. You can use this as a conversation starter to dive deeper into their goals.
When I would go to interview a candidate I would always bring two copies of their resume and cover letter (because sometimes candidates forget to bring their own). I would keep one that would have notes and reminders for me on what I wanted to ask written all over it in one color.
Then, during the interview, I would write notes in a different color pen. This way I could remember what was said vs. what I was curious about quickly.
If you write notes during the interview, remember to take short notes. You are here to have a conversation. Don’t get caught up writing down their entire answer.
Also, remember to hold your copy in a way they can’t see what you are writing. This way they aren’t focused on what you are writing and you can be honest with your notes.
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Whether you decide to do multiple interviews or just one, asking the right questions is obviously important in making sure you hire the right employees.
You want to make sure you are asking them questions that not only give you an idea of their skill level in the field, but also an insight into their true personality.
I say true personality because, again, everyone is going to try to seem like they are the perfect fit. No one wants to admit during an interview that they can’t seem to get along with superiors or that they think they are God’s gift to Earth. But, if you ask the right questions you can hopefully catch an idea of what they will be like to work with.
FIRST STEP: GET THEM TO RELAX
But first, consider asking some questions to help them relax. Chances are they are a little nervous. Remember, some topics are not allowed to be asked during an interview. Such as their sexual orientation, marital status, if they are pregnant, etc.
Instead, ask them something about their interests. Maybe something like what their favorite summertime hobby is or what their favorite place to eat out locally is. Keep it simple and something they can easily answer.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
Let’s be honest, you are going to have some people apply to your open jobs who haven’t the foggiest what your company does or even what the position entails. To see if they did their homework and test their actual interest in the position as well as your company you could ask them the following examples:
Ask them to describe the position they are applying for to you in their own words. What will their job entail? What are their main responsibilities? (Remember that if they understood it differently that doesn’t mean they didn’t read the job posting.)
Ask them what they think your company does, what your company’s goals are (only fair if you have this listed on your website or on the job posting), etc.
GET A FEEL FOR THEIR AMBITIONS
Unless you are looking for someone to fill a temporary position at your company you probably want someone who is interested in being a long-term employee.
Ask them something like:
Where do you see yourself in five years?
If you had a dream career, what would it be?
How will this position help you achieve your dream career/five-year goal?
Remember that it is okay for them to admit that they have bigger dreams than the current position. You should want someone who is ambitious and driven, but you want to field to see if their ambitions lie within your company.
Something else you can ask them is what they would change at their previous/current job if they were able to change anything they wanted. How and why would they implement this change?
SEE HOW VALUABLE THEIR TIME IS TO THEM
Another good way to check for how strong a candidate will be is how they value their time. One way to field for this is to ask them what their ideal salary is.
Leave it open to their interpretation, maybe they assume you strictly mean for that position or maybe they think you mean in the future.
I love candidates that say what they want with confidence. Telling someone, “I believe my salary should be $80k for this position because x, y, and z.” gives someone instant points in my book. Obviously, you want to make sure that the candidate isn’t annoyingly confident since that can be a red flag, but you do want them to have some confidence and self-worth.
When it comes to making sure you hire the right employees you probably want those who see the value of time. They understand time is valuable, their time, your time, the customer’s time.
UNDERSTAND THEIR WORK RELATIONSHIPS
Let’s face it, more than likely you need someone who at least has good communication skills. You also likely need someone who works well with others.
While the position you are offering may be something they do alone, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t interacting with other staff members or leadership. Having someone who can have a good relationship with those they work with will help things run smoothly.
You could ask them something like:
Tell me about a time when you and a supervisor didn’t agree on something
Tell me about your favorite supervisor, why were they your favorite? What about your least favorite supervisor? This can give you an idea of how they take redirection and how they view supervisors/leadership.
What is your ideal work environment?
What is typically your role in group assignments? Tell me about an assignment you had to work with someone else on, how did that go?
Tell me about a time when something didn’t go as planned. What was the situation, how was it handled, what was your role in the solution?
To get a feel for how they are with others you could also have a group interview. Remember though that if someone seems shy and uncomfortable, don’t count them out if they still have good answers. They just might not be a public speaking person.
THINK OF THE POSITION
To make sure you are going to hire the right employees you need to be thinking of the actual position, not just if you like the candidate.
Let’s say you are looking for someone to be a sales representative for your company. Something that will help you get a better idea of their experience and current skill would be to roleplay.
Ask them to sell you something, preferably in the same realm as what your company sells. Have them pretend that you are the ideal customer, but you need more information and are just starting your search for whatever the product is. Think of one or two of the typical “concerns”, difficult questions, or “excuses” for why customers aren’t interested in purchasing the product and ask the candidate these.
You could also ask them how they would handle a particular problem or obstacle your company recently came across. Maybe it is an issue you have already resolved, but they might have a creative way of dealing with it that you didn’t think of.
GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO ASK YOU QUESTIONS
Remember to let them ask any clarifying questions they would like. After all, this isn’t just about if they are a good fit for you — they need to feel that your company is a good fit for them as well.
REFLECT
Spend some time going over each candidate’s answers and any notes you wrote down from the interviews.
A key thing to remember is that you can teach someone the skills you want them to have, but you likely can’t change their personality.
SHOULD YOU CHECK REFERENCES?
As a previous hiring manager, I never checked someone’s listed references. Why? Because let’s face it, they aren’t going to list someone who is going to speak poorly of them.
Or at least, they don’t think those people will.
So what can you do instead?
Look over their job history, is there a certain job within the last five or so years that is missing from their list of references? Call that one.
Is there a job that is very similar to the position you are offering? Give them a call but ask for the candidate’s supervisor, not necessarily who was listed on their resume.
RUN A SOCIAL MEDIA CHECK
Yes, I am telling you to look at their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This is, after all, going to be someone who will be representing your company.
Although, just because someone has a picture of them with a red solo cup in hand it doesn’t mean that they can’t be professional. If they can show up at work and have the level of professionalism you need them to have, then great. What you want to make sure of though is that it isn’t all they post about.
For me, I am more concerned about what they are writing because I understand that we all have lives outside of work.
Some red flags could be if they are complaining about their previous jobs on social media, getting too politically involved for your company’s taste (no, you can’t not hire someone for having a different political view), posting about illegal activities, etc.
WORKING INTERVIEW?
Working interviews can be a great way to test the individual to see if they have the skills you need, or are teachable. It also gives them a chance to see how they like the work environment.
If you decide to do a working interview you will more than likely need to pay them for that time. Check with your accountant on if you need to provide tax documents as well.
Once you feel you have made your decision, sleep on it. Again, I know that sometimes we need to fill positions as soon as possible, but wouldn’t you rather make sure you are hiring the right person for the job the first time?
So there you have it, some of my favorite hiring practices to make sure that you hire the right employees the first time.
What are your favorite hiring practices?