As much as probationary periods are there to protect employers from potentially bad hiring decisions, there can be long-term ramifications experienced by all levels of the business if you have the wrong person in the wrong role. Below are three tips to keep in mind before you place your next position vacant advertisement to help you attract and ultimately employ the right person for your business.
1. Make Sure You Know What Your Business Needs
When was the last time you evaluated your structure and roles to make sure that the positions you have in your business suit the work that people do? This isn’t necessarily about doing the same volume of work with less staff, but you may have some roles and functions that are more redundant these days and a need to build new skills, capabilities, and responsibilities into position descriptions. Don’t just assume that because somebody resigned from a particular role and you’ve always had that exact function that it needs to stay the same in the future.
2. Go Beyond Interviews and Referees
Psychometric testing is a way to really understand your candidates’ attitude and aptitude, which can make placing them in the right role for them and the right role for your business a lot easier. Something that recruiters hear a lot when the wrong candidate has been offered a position is “but their references checked out okay.” Having good reference checks doesn’t necessarily mean somebody can work well in your business; it just means that they worked well in the last place they worked. By combining application screening, interviews, reference checks, and psychological testing, you can get a better picture of how someone will fit in your organisation, which means good things for them, you and your existing team, and your bottom line. You can learn more about this process at the Chandler Macleod site.
3. Ask Relevant People to Attend Interviews
Typically, screening of candidates, interviews, and offers are done by the managers and human resources departments. It can be really beneficial to invite a senior colleague that the person will actually be working with to sit in on the interview or help you look over resumes. Nobody knows the role quite like they do, so use that expertise and opinion when it comes to deciding who the next person to join the team will be.
Hiring, training, and development are already big expenses for business without the added cost and impact of getting such an important decision wrong. Productivity, morale, and your long-term results can all be seriously impacted by bad hiring decisions, so it is important to take the time to make sure that you’re firstly hiring for the right position, and then, that you’re finding the right person to work with your team to achieve your goals.
Have you ever made a bad hiring decision? What tips would you give to make sure that employers and recruiters are putting the right person in the right role? Share any stories or advice you might have in the comments section below.
