When a single new hire doesn’t work out, stress ripples through the organization. When it happens repeatedly, those ripples of stress quickly become a tidal wave that wipes out profits, employee engagement, and revenue growth. Once a company acquires a reputation for having heavy turnover, it will be seriously challenged to attract new talent, new customers and even suppliers.
So why are companies making poor decisions when it comes to the hiring process? It may be that your company is in too much of a rush to fill a position and your vetting process is simplified to save time. Your business may be assessing the wrong skills and a complete overhaul of your assessment tools is needed. Often, the root of the problem lies in a lack of behavioral interviewing, a key element in understanding how a candidate would perform in specific employment-related situations. The absence of this crucial element in your Pre-Employment Assessments can hinder your ability to assess candidates effectively and might lead to making bad hires. To avoid such pitfalls, it’s essential to revamp your hiring process and incorporate behavioural interviewing into your assessment toolkit. This strategic adjustment ensures that you gain a comprehensive understanding of how potential hires will contribute to your company from day one.
How to Avoid Bad Hires?
Avoiding bad hires is crucial for maintaining a productive and harmonious work environment. Here are some strategies to help you minimize the risk of making poor hiring decisions:
Clear Job Descriptions: Start by crafting detailed job descriptions that outline the roles, responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations for the position. This helps attract candidates who align with your requirements.
Structured Interview Process: Develop a structured interview process with standardized questions for all candidates. This allows for fair comparisons and better evaluation of each candidate’s fit for the role.
Behavioral Interviews: Incorporate behavioral questions that prompt candidates to share specific examples of how they handled challenges or situations in the past. This helps gauge their problem-solving abilities and cultural fit.
Skills Assessment: Administer skills assessments, tests, or work samples relevant to the job to assess candidates’ actual abilities and knowledge.
Reference Checks: Contact references provided by the candidate to verify their work history, skills, and work ethic. Ask specific questions related to the candidate’s performance and character.
Background Checks: Conduct thorough background checks, including criminal history, employment verification, and education verification. This helps verify the accuracy of the information provided by the candidate.
Cultural Fit: Assess whether the candidate’s values and work style align with the company’s culture. A mismatch in cultural fit can lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance.
Multiple Interviewers: Involve multiple team members in the interview process to gain different perspectives and insights about the candidate.
Trial Period or Contract Work: Consider offering a trial period or contract work before making a permanent hiring decision. This allows you to assess the candidate’s performance in a real-world setting.
Use Assessment Platforms: Leverage platforms that can provide job-specific candidate assessments to ensure the best-fit candidates are selected. Incorporating such platforms not only saves time but also enhances the overall quality of hiring decisions, leading to a more productive and efficient workforce.
Check Social Media Profiles: Review candidates’ social media profiles to ensure their online presence is aligned with your company’s values and expectations.
Trust Your Gut: If something feels off or too good to be true, trust your instincts. Don’t ignore red flags or inconsistencies.
Candidate Feedback: Solicit feedback from your team members who interacted with the candidate during the interview process. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives.
Continual Learning: Continuously assess your hiring process and learn from past experiences. Regularly update and refine your approach based on feedback and outcomes.
Make use of People Tracing Services: Candidates with malicious intent may use fake identities to hide their past or gain access to sensitive company information. People tracing services offered by Bond Rees and similar companies can uncover such attempts and prevent impersonation-based fraud.
Conclusion
The infographic below, What Are Bad Hires Really Costing Your Business?, provides a high-level overview of the costs of bad hires, why it happens, and how to fix it. For new companies, it’s an excellent place to start putting together a solid recruiting team and interviewing process. For everyone else, the infographic serves as an excellent reminder and a useful in-house training tool. Read on to learn more.
