Being in the recruitment game for over 20 years I see common mistakes made through the hiring process. Here are the 5 top mistakes and how to avoid making them, so you recruit right the first time.

Not Defining the Role

Know who you are looking for! Ensuring you have an in-depth understanding of the role you are hiring for will make the rest of the recruitment process easier and faster.

Have an in-depth job description outlining: duties, accountabilities, skills, and qualifications.

Identify what characteristics and behaviours would fit into your culture and the position. Don’t focus on skills and qualifications only.

Chasing Pink Unicorns
Research the ‘market value’ for the position you are looking for and make sure your offer is compatible.

The best people are already employed and would seldom consider conditions and pay that is less than their current arrangement.

If you wish to attract outstanding people you need to offer conditions to match!  Top-talented people are not attracted to the mediocre.

Unstructured interviews
Have an organised, structured, and systematic approach to ensure all applicants are scored against the same criteria.

Create an interviewing template, this way all candidates are asked the same questions, and nothing is forgotten.

Prepare behavioural style questions to identify the characteristics and behaviors.

Use the same person to conduct the interviews and remember it’s a two-way conversation.

Not doing background checks

Surprisingly, many business managers offering jobs to candidates on “gut feeling” alone. This can be devastating for a business.

Conduct at least 2 reference checks on candidates that you are considering offering your position to, making sure the referees are ‘bona fide’.  Whilst you are looking for information in relation to their technical abilities, you may also want to find out how the person interacts with customers, peers, and management in a work environment. Questions around their reliability and honesty should also be high on the agenda.  You should also consider social media checks, but ensure you are within the boundaries of the Anti-Discrimination Act and Privacy Laws.

There is a range of other checks and tests that are available and may be appropriate, depending on the role you are recruiting for.  For example Criminal history, Health and/or drug test, personality, and psychological assessments.

Taking too long to decide
Respect your potential employee’s time and let them know where you are at in the recruitment process.
If a candidate doesn’t know where they stand, they will most likely keep looking. The last thing you want is to lose a great employee to your opposition just because you dragged your feet. Most candidates apply for a number of positions, not just yours…

Author: Vlasta Eriksson

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