US recruitment specialist Lou Adler has written an article on the ERE.net website outlining ten great ways to make a bad hiring decision – if you’re about to hire an employee, then it’s best that you DO NOT do the following:
1. DO NOT make emotional decisions and justify them with facts. If a candidate looks the goods from the outset (ie their CV is perfect, they are articulate when they speak), then interviewers typically drop their guard and ask easier questions, searching for reasons to justify their initial positive impression. Conversely, candidates that don’t appear to measure up from the start are asked tougher questions, in order to justify the interviewer’s initial thoughts. Making a hiring decision on preconceived and fabricated conceptions of the candidate is dangerous and will result in a bad hire.
2. DO NOT fail to seek out objective information. Superficial responses to your questions at interview should be followed up with more probing questions to determine whether the candidate is in fact suitable for the job. Rather than trust your gut feeling, it’s better to base your hiring decision of objective information provided by the candidate. Don’t be clouded by your preconceived ideas and don’t accept ‘motherhood’ statements in candidate’s interview responses.
3. DO NOT write boring and uninviting job ads. This is commonsense, but it’s amazing to see the number of poorly-written, error-ridden ads that are produced by organisations seeking talent. The best candidates respond to the best ads. Two line ads will not attract the cream. Indeed, putting your organisation’s name to a terribly written ad with spelling mistakes is saying a great deal about your organisation (poor attention to detail, lack of pride).
4. DO NOT use skills based job descriptions to find, screen and assess candidates. The best candidates are those who have a track record of success. They may not have the exact skillset that you are looking for, but they probably possess comparable skills and are typically very quick learners who can turn their hand to anything. If you eliminate people from your recruitment process purely on the basis of their existing skillset, then it’s likely that you won’t hire the best candidate.
5. DO NOT make your jobs hard to find. If your jobs cannot be found easily using common search methods – Google, etc. – then you’re not going to get the best field of applicants for your position. Make sure you use the best channels to attract a quality field.
To see the full article, visit the following URL:
http://www.ere.net/2008/09/12/10-great-ways-to-make-bad-hiring-decisions/
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