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Resumes, cover letters, background checks, and interviews are the only ways you can see if the person you’re considering hiring is a good candidate or not. Even if an applicant has a great resume and cover letter, the interview can still go poorly. Similarly, a candidate can have an amazing interview, but might not have the exact qualifications you’re looking for.
So how do you find that perfect candidate that meets all the requirements and is also a good fit for your company? Here are some tactics and strategies for you to employ so that you can spot those dream candidates a bit easier.
Think Outside the Box
Rather than sifting through countless resumes hoping to find someone that sticks out, have your candidates do the work for you. Ask for a sample of their writing, or a short, introductory video. Just make these suggestions optional, because it’ll make those who attempt them stand out all the more. People looking for work are used to the monotony of e-mailing their documentation, so those who respond well to your quirky tasks are guaranteed to be creative and adaptive individuals, which are highly coveted qualities for candidates to have.
Optimize Your Background Checks
Cursory glances at your applicants’ Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram pages simply aren’t enough. Extensive background checks make hiring so much easier because they help eliminate a lot of the potential risks and ensure that your hires will be trustworthy and professional. ShareAble for Hires offers pre-employment screening that you can use to help weed out risky candidates. Don’t let a potential employee try to pull a fast one on you—be the one that spots their less-than-truthful resumes.
Rethink the Qualities You’re Looking For
Yes, you want to hire skilled individuals with nice smiles, but what about other characteristics? Try to identify how your candidates view learning in the workplace, or how they might adapt to challenges they’ve never faced before. The quality of your hire shouldn’t just be measured by their average performance, but by how they react to the extreme sides of the bell curve, like being proactive on a slow day or managing extreme workloads on a busy day. Just be sure to amend your job ad if you change your desired qualities. Not sure where the best sites to post are? Craigslist is fine, but if you want to attract more serious candidates, consider a paid-for site such as Indeed or ZipRecruiter.
Leave Room for Questions
You can learn a lot about the way a person thinks by how they ask questions. Always make sure to allow your interviewees to question you so that you can gauge their enthusiasm about the job. Candidates who don’t ask questions likely didn’t research your company and therefore aren’t valuing your open position as much as others. It’s preferable for applicants to ask all of their questions early rather than a month into their employment. A curious mind is a learning mind.
Talk About Their Pay
Business cultures are fascinating and fun to be a part of, but paychecks ensure that people stick around. Salary and benefits are likely to be the two most important aspects for any candidate, whether they admit it or not. Be sure to go over what they’ll be making, and get them to confirm that everything is fair. Employees who don’t feel fairly compensated become disgruntled, work less, and could become a problem for your company. If it’s within your means, try to include a retirement package with your job offer. Paychex offers affordable 401k solutions for employers, and they can also solve your HR and payroll needs, too.
Test Their Skills
This can be done during the interviewing process; just come up with a task for your potential hires to attempt to solve and observe them as much as possible. It’s not always obvious whether a new employee will produce results, so spend some time making sure that your candidates can put their abilities where their mouth is.
Ask Around
There are tons of other businesses in your industry that you can talk to about potential hires. Great candidates for other companies come really close to taking the job, but back out for all sorts of reasons like long commutes, or not enough pay. There’s your chance to swoop in and reach out to some great choices that might fit better into your work environment. Just walking a fine line when recruiting and be cautious not to poach competitors. Think about hiring a recruiter from Talent Works who can match you with the best talent, freeing your time to attend to other business matters.
There are tons of dream candidates out there, but the typical job application format can muddy the waters and make it a lot more difficult to find people who stand out. Stick to these strategies and you’ll create a space for the best possible people to show themselves.