Most organizations struggle with hiring at some point in time. And many still have issues with bringing on bad employees who end up being a cancer to the company culture or aren’t right for the role. In fact, CareerBuilder reported that 41% of organizations wasted $25,000 on a bad hire. It would’ve actually been better to have never brought them on at all.
Either way, a hiring mistake will hurt. That’s why recruiting has become one of the most crucial business processes and the reason whole departments and companies are dedicated to staffing.
When it comes to developing a hiring process, it may be difficult to know what works. There are many different resources out there, but what we’ve found in our 18 years in business are the following tactics.
7 Successful Tips to Avoid Hiring a Dud:
- Fire fast and hire slow. Unfortunately, people tend to do it the other way around. Instead, they hire fast to fill the position and then keep bad employees on until they find a replacement. What they don’t realize is that they keep the person on just long enough to ruin the company culture or lose a large client.
- Always be recruiting. This will help with the problem addressed above. Employers need to consistently be looking for new staff even if a position has not become available yet. When someone eventually leaves, there will be a database of all-stars to fill the role. Sites like Indeed allow businesses to continuously run ads. For some jobs like sales which has a high turnover rate, this isn’t a bad idea.
- Don’t wait for resumes. Sometimes recruiters make the mistake of waiting on resumes to come to them when they should be actively perusing LinkedIn to find the right fit. Just like people reach out to prospects on LinkedIn, it can be just as beneficial to connect with potential employees.
- Look for core values over experience. Tons of businesses make the mistake of hiring based on skill set and past experience, not realizing that they could be missing out on the perfect candidate to fit their company culture. Every successful business has a set of core values and these should be used in determining the right candidate for the job. Obviously, skill set shouldn’t be overlooked, but isn’t the only factor.
- Get multiple opinions. It’s like the old saying goes “two heads are better than one.” In a lot of cases, one person may pick up on something that another person doesn’t, which could end up saving the company thousands of dollars on a bad hire. During the interview process, have different employees review the candidate. Then, get together and share their thoughts.
- Check references! It seems like common sense, but many people don’t go through the process of checking references because it can be time consuming. The only way to know how the person really interacts in an office environment is to bring them in or ask someone who has worked with them in the past.
- Give the candidate a personality questionnaire. Before hiring, perform a personality survey to see if they are the right fit for the position and the company. Culture Index provides a results-driven tool that measures seven work-related traits to help organizations determine which candidate is the best fit for the position.
