7 Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Here are 7 Common hiring mistakes and how to avoid them … Hiring is a difficult and time consuming task that employers have to maneuver to keep their business running at it’s best. However, there are things that companies can do reduce the pressure and difficulty of the hiring process.
- Hiring too fast
Hiring is a long and time consuming process, so employers often settle for an okay candidate instead of waiting for the best of the best because they do not have the time to keep looking. A good way to solve this issue is by pre-screening candidates and only interviewing the few that really fit the companies standards. Pre-screening allows even the busiest of companies to keep looking until they find exactly who they’re looking for.
- Not hiring fast enough
On the other side of hiring too fast, is not hiring fast enough. Sometimes employers come into a new employee search with too many expectations. They come with this picture in their head of the perfect employee, and most of the time that absolute perfect person will not come along. It is important for employers to know that even the perfect job candidate will not have every single skill you hope. However, if they are really the right fit for the job, then they will be willing and able to learn to all of the necessary skills to make them the absolute best fit for what the employers are looking for.
- Not knowing exactly what you’re looking for
While some employers go into candidate searches knowing exactly what they want, others go into them with no expectations or standards. This is bad because not only will you likely have ht problems of hiring too fast or not fast enough, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for then how will you ever know if you’ve found the right fit for the position. I think a good common ground here is to set some expectations like education background, degree type and even experience levels, but not to set too many by adding height, language or technology requirements, especially if they have nothing to do with the available position.
- Doing all of the talking in an interview
It is very common for interviewers to feel the need to do all of the talking in an interview, whether it be about the company or their own personal life and background. It is important in an interview to tell a candidate a little more about the company, but it is more important for the employer to learn about the candidates background. Interviews are about getting to know all of the potential candidates, not about all of the candidates getting to know you, so it is important to allow the candidates to do the talking and save more personal sharing for whomever gets the job.
- Going with your gut/not checking references
It is also common for employers to like a candidate so much that they choose to save time by not checking the candidate’s references, but the problem with trusting your gut in an interview, is that everyone knows how to put on a good impression. Who you interview and who you get on the first, second or tenth day of work can be vastly different. People dress their best and put their best foot forward when it comes to interviewing because they want the job, but what you really need to know is how this candidate will act once they already have the job. This is where references are helpful, because previous bosses can tell you who the candidate really is after the interview, which can help you determine if they are really the right fit for your company.
- Giving just anyone the authority to interview and hire new employees
Employers also often delegate the task of hiring new employees to free up time for their more important tasks, but hiring should become more of a priority to employers. Employers can tell their interviewers what they are looking for in a new employee, but the interviewer may interpret these expectations in a different way than the employer, so who they end up hiring may not be what the employer was originally looking for. In order to get the employee that you know will fit in the position and company the way you want them to, it is best to make hiring a priority and personally handle interviewing candidates.
- Not clearly defining job expectations or the companies’ standards
It is easy to overlook parts of a position and thus leave them out of the job description, which can make retaining new employees more difficult. When you hire someone with the expectation that they will have a certain number of tasks and responsibilities without specifying that additional responsibilities may added when necessary it can lead to issues in the workplace. New employees are often overwhelmed already, so adding more to their plate after hiring them on certain conditions can lead to tension in the workplace and may leave you back at the beginning of the hiring process; so it is important to specify in every job description that new tasks/responsibilities will be assigned as needed.