Hiring is a necessary part of any business, especially when you're focused on growth. Hiring well is a key part of business growth, but an ill-prepared hiring team can waste a lot of time on bad interviewing techniques – leading to money lost on bad hires.
Here are 10 signs that your internal hiring team may need help:
1. Candidates Don't Fit Your Requirements
Inaccurate job descriptions may be attracting the wrong talent. Be sure that the right people are involved in creating the job description. This could involve a collaborative effort between recruiting, human resources, and the hiring manager.
Learn More: Tips for Incorporating Company Culture into Your Recruiting Process
2. Interviewers Are Not Asking the Right Questions
Every interviewer should be trained in what questions to ask and how to ask them. Probing, following up, and remaining relevant are essential to good interviewing.
3. The Wrong People are Conducting Interviews
Not everyone is a good interviewer. Training can help, but interviewing effectively is not everyone's strong suit. Also be sure that you have at least one interviewer from the department where the candidate will be working.
4. Interviewers are Skipping the Phone Screen
Interviewing candidates who don't fit your requirements or company culture can often be a waste of time. Encourage your team to start with a well, thought-out phone interview to weed out candidates who may have looked good on paper, but are not appropriate for the job.
5. Staff Aren't Documenting Their Impressions of Candidates
Everyone thinks they have a good memory. Implementing a process to record assessments in the moment or debriefing immediately following the interview can prevent your team from reducing candidates to "you know, the tall guy with the blue tie" when discussing who to hire. Most organizations today also utilize an applicant tracking system to document and track activity throughout the hiring process.
Learn More: Five Tips to Increase Employee Productivity and Output
6. Interviewers Talk Too Much
The interviewer's primary job is to draw the candidate out. The candidate should do at least half of the talking in any interview. Sure, the interviewer needs to fill the candidate in about the job and the company, but if they don't stop talking they'll never find out if the candidate is the one for the job.
Related: 3 Interview Styles to Avoid
7. Candidates are Being Led
Whether it's someone they know or just someone who gave them a great first impression, it's only human to want to hire someone you like. Interviewers must be careful not to tip their hand and give away the answers they are looking for from the candidate.
8. Interviewers Are Not Selling the Job
While the candidate would not be interviewing if they were not interested in the job, good candidates may get more than one offer. If your hiring team thinks this candidate could be "the one" be sure to make the case for working at your company.
9. Staff Are Expecting Perfection
While you can't settle for a candidate who just doesn't fit, the right person may be the one who doesn't have the exact degree that you wanted or who has more transferrable (but not exact) skills for the job.
10. Not Asking for Help
Sometimes it gets overwhelming when to find just the right candidate. Staffing and recruiting firms are a proven resource if you want to try a candidate on the job, need temporary help to complete a project, or just need help screening candidates to find the perfect fit.
Sparks Group is a nationally-awarded staffing agency, with industry-specialized divisions and local market knowledge to meet your unique staffing needs. The team of staffing and recruiting experts at Sparks Group can help your company source, recruit and hire the best candidates for your open positions, reducing both cost and time to hire.
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