Hiring the right people is important for every organization, especially if you’re a small business or startup with fewer employees.
Hiring the wrong person costs both time and money. Depending on the position, it could set your company back at least $25,000, and the repercussions don’t stop there.
Bringing the wrong person onboard can affect things like employee morale and productivity. It can take away time from your management team and potentially affect your client or customer service.
While you can’t completely stop the wrong applicants from slipping through, you can take steps toward preventing bad hires. Here are four ways to avoid hiring the wrong people.
Most job seekers do a good amount of research online before they hit apply. This includes visiting an employer’s career site, looking through social media accounts or watching recruitment videos. As an employer, you can use job seekers’ research as an opportunity to filter out people who don’t align. First , offer resources that can easily be found on the web. Investing in a career site is a great place to start. If you already have one, make sure you’re sending a clear message of what it’s like to work at your organization. Doing so will help candidates more easily decipher whether your opportunity is right for them.
Job seekers—and people in general—want information quickly and efficiently. That means a web site with pages and pages of text isn’t great for communicating your opportunities. Candidates can easily skim over the important details. Instead, rely on visual content like photographs or videos. These pieces are usually more engaging to job seekers. They stand out on a web page and can effectively showcase the ethos of your company. They highlight the types of individuals you hire and how the prospective role contributes to the bigger picture.
This tip may seem like an obvious suggestion, but it’s surprising how often employers pass over this one. A well crafted job description is an opportunity to sell your job to the right candidate. Take time to review your job descriptions before you post them online. Are they filled with jargon or down-to-earth language? Is the information long-winded or succinct and to the point? Determining the answers to these questions can make the difference between a lousy ad and an effective one.
Instead of solely relying on job seekers to find you, go out and find them! Proactive recruitment is a critical step toward avoiding the wrong hire. Start by identifying where your ideal candidates spend their time. Whether that means an online group, professional association or conference, make sure you spend some time there, too. When you meet someone you’d like to work with someday, save their information in your back pocket (we like to call it a talent community). Then when a position opens up for them, you can quickly reach out with the details.
Avoid making a bad hiring decision by implementing these tips into your daily tasks. Whether you offer great resources online, use visual content, provide clear job descriptions or proactively collect great candidates, you can start taking the right steps toward more effective recruiting.
