2 Factors to Consider Before Making Final Hiring Decisions

Robert Half Technology survey found that nearly all tech leaders have made a bad hire, with 38 percent of IT decision-makers reported their bad hires had inadequate technical skills. Interpersonal issues and poor corporate culture fit account for more than half of hiring mistakes, with 39 percent of tech leaders said technical skills are the hardest to assess in an interview. 

There is no doubt that making the right hiring decisions is no simple feat. There is a lot you should consider, from resume application to candidates’ series of interview sessions. If hiring managers do not neatly measure and observe the whole recruitment process, employers could suffer from the high cost of bad hires. The Department of Labour estimated that a bad hire can cost up to 30 percent of an employee’s potential first-year earnings which might affect overall business productivity. 

See also: 4 Solutions to The Biggest Headaches of Being Recruiter

Owing to these reasons, hiring managers need to be careful in making final hiring decisions. Here are two biggest considerations you should think thoroughly before making a final hiring decision.

Essential job requirements 

When posting a job ad, you should write the job description first. Doing so will give you insight into the nice-to-have skills and essential skills that job candidates should have. In this case, the nice-to-have skills should not weigh your hiring decision as you need to pay more attention to the essential skills. During an interview, focus on asking candidates to showcase their skills which are required to do the job. If candidates can demonstrate and practise the skills in good command, they could be a good prospect to hire. 

“Albeit you can always teach skills, hiring candidates who already possess what you need will reduce training cost and most likely result in a successful hiring decision.”

Attitude and behaviour 

When you have a few prospective candidates, it is time to find out who they truly are. Most often, candidates would behave nicely during an interview, however, after a few months working in the company, they start showing their true colour. If his true character, behaviour, or attitude is good, it will boost your company culture. On the contrary, if you hire an unethical candidate, it might endanger your company’s bottom line. 

To understand that your candidates could turn out to be toxic employees in the future, here’s some advice from the Young Entrepreneur Council. 

• Ask a potential toxic question - for example, ask the candidate’s opinion of their current or past companies. You can also ask pressure questions to reveal their strategic insight and signs of toxicity. 
• Do a team interview - a team interview is very hard to be fooled, said John Rampton. If you cannot sniff the toxic behaviour, others will help. 
• Actually speak with references - use social media to connect with individuals who have worked with the candidate before. Ask them if they’d be amenable to a 10-minute conversation and read between the lines. 
• Have more than one interview stages - it will be hard to hide your true colour after a few days of meetings and events with a team. 
• Ask about the best moments at work or school - if the candidate’s answer is parties, free lunches, prom, then you know you have a candidate who cannot look beyond the surface for deeper meaning.
• Find out if a candidate holds a grudge - if you interview a candidate who simply fails a relationship around them, then it is likely that the said candidate is part of the problem.
• Watch out for complainers - to do this, you need to truly read between the lines of interviewee’s responses. 
• Ask behavioural questions - this involves asking situational-based questions and having candidates give you concrete examples of how they behaved when they were in a certain situation. 
• Listen for “we” - if your candidate often emphasises their personal interest wins, there could be an ego problem. 

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