3 Sure-Fire Tips to Find the Perfect Candidate for Your Company

Are you one of those HR people who get excited every time the recruitment and hiring season rolls around- or do you get overwhelmed by the relentlessness of mundane tasks like reading resumes, cover letters, and sitting through interviews?

One thing is for sure, the task itself is risk-prone.

Bad hires can deeply hurt an organization’s reputation, operations, negative effects on workplace morale and productivity, and drain resources. If you land on someone overqualified for the job, you might find yourself with an empty slot once again, in under 18 months. At the same time, if you hire someone underqualified, you’ll find yourself keeping your fingers crossed every morning, hoping to find a resignation on your desk.

Deposit Photos | Bad hires are every HR executives nightmare

Given the current unemployment rate, you might think the hiring process might be easier now. But, how can you fully evaluate a candidate without ever meeting them in person? With remote work, you might even become extremely overwhelmed by the number of applications coming in, awaiting your perusal.

Hence, we’ve gathered some tried and tested tips to help you identify the ideal candidate for your growing team.

1. An extremely specific job description

The first step of the recruitment process is the job post-; this is where you can make or break the entire process. While creating the job description, remember that the more generic it is, the more generic applications you are likely to receive.

Sit down with members from the department that need new employees, and note down the exact skills needed and responsibilities that have to be shouldered. This will ensure that 90% of the applications you receive are tailored to the position and make your job a lot easier.

2. Get the team together

You’ll often see applicants claiming to be “team players” or “dynamic collaborators” but, how do you determine if that’s even true?

So, after the initial interview, get the shortlisted candidates into a conversation with their future would-be team. In turn, ask existing team members to prepare some questions to ask the candidate and determine whether they’d have a smooth working relationship with them.

Deposit Photos | Get your team to jump on a quick online meeting

3. Beware of the red flags

No candidate is going to be their natural self while sitting for an interview. Hence, it is your job to be extra vigilant throughout the entire process. Classic red flags include poor preparation, tardiness, unclear about the reason for leaving a past workplace, not enough self-talk (past contributions to the workplace, likely to push tasks on coworkers), too much self-talk (narcissistic, likely to not be a team player). Even if one of the above red flags aren’t present, one sure-fire giveaway is a lack of interest in the company details and not bothering to ask any questions about the company themselves.

Deposit Photos | Employees are on their best behavior during interviews

The Bottom Line

As an HR executive, you are basically the foundation of your company. If you go weak, so does the rest of it. As such, you must go above and beyond to ensure that whoever you’re bringing into the company is a perfect fit.