4 Proven Strategies for Avoiding a Bad Hire

In our recent blog post, we covered the various ways that a bad hire costs your business money. As many executives know, a bad hire results in unforeseen expenses that wreak havoc on a business’ budget.

Although at times it can be difficult to gauge whether or not an employee will be successful in a given role, there are a few things you can do to minimize the frequency of a bad hire. To guarantee you find the top talent you’re looking for, here’s a list of four proven strategies to start incorporating into your hiring process now for better results.

– Align the description to the role. 

Before the hiring process starts rolling, the crucial first step to your strategy should be aligning the job description to the role you are looking to fill. An ineffective, off-base, or unclear job description often results in unqualified candidates pursuing employment with your business.

Spending more time crafting an effective and realistic job description will help attract the highly qualified talent needed and eliminate those without the necessary skill sets. To do so, you need to evaluate the skills, specialization, responsibilities, and experience needed for the role and collaborate with employees familiar with the position to identify any overlooked position details that need to be included.

One method that should always be avoided is finding and copying another description online for a similar role. Not only will doing so produce applicants that won’t fit your specific position, it could actually result in on-boarding a bad hire to your team.

– Market to the appropriate target audience.

The next key component in your hiring process strategy is marketing the job description to your target audience or talent pool and optimizing the content to be found easily. If you are simply trying to reach as many candidates as possible, then job search sites like Indeed or CareerBuilder would be the best place to publish. However, if you’re looking for more specific talent or specialized individuals, sites like Dice, eFinancialCareers, mediabistro, and TalentZoo are great due to their focus on jobs in niche industries.

Incorporating SEO strategy into the creation of the job description is also crucial to having your job posting displayed in the first few search page results for a job search query. Include popular search keywords and phrases that applicants will be using when looking for job openings online to ensure you reach your desired audience.

– Applicant review process and interview. 

When evaluating which candidate is right for the position, you must do research on every applicant to make an informed decision. A quick Google search can bring up details about potential employees you would’ve otherwise never known. Some businesses have even taken to asking applicants to provide their social media profile information so employers can review it before making a hiring decision. Also, make sure to always take the time to check an applicant’s references. Connecting with references and discussing an applicant’s past performance is key in evaluating whether or not the candidate would be the right fit for your business’ needs.

Once you’ve vetted the applicants, an effective and in-depth interviewing process is the next critical component in identifying which candidates will be successful at your business. Conducting initial phone interviews, preparing a list of position and work culture-specific questions, paying close attention to the prospective candidate’s responses, rephrasing questions when they are answered vaguely, and taking notes are all the best practices when it comes to effective interviewing. The interview process is the place to probe for any potential shortcomings of the candidate that their resume won’t showcase.

Once you have limited down your pool of applicants, be sure to test the applicants’ skills. Proven experience in a given field can give you an idea of what each applicant can deliver, but assigning a test will help clearly define whether they have the skill sets and abilities you are looking for.

– Build a realistic timeline for success.

When filling a talent gap, a crucial part of your hiring strategy needs to be building a realistic timeline for successful placement. Many hiring mistakes are made because managers feel pressured to fill a position as soon as possible. When rushed, they often interview the first candidates who apply. By building a realistic timeline and understanding that it takes around five weeks on average to fill staff-level positions and seven to eight weeks to fill management-level positions, you allot enough time to find the right fit for the role.

If you are under a tight deadline to fill a talent gap as soon as possible, allocating resources to a recruiter to find the talent you need could be your best bet. By contracting a professional recruiting agency, you widen the pool of talent you have access to, guarantee you receive a successful hire, and save your business money in the long run as well.

Incorporating these proven, effective strategies will greatly enhance your business’ ability to attract and bring on-board the qualified talent you need. If you’re still experiencing a limited pool of applicants to your job postings, contacting a recruiting agency like Mondo will help expand the talent pool you have access to.

Contact Mondo today to discuss your resourcing needs. We can help match you with the top tier talent you need, while helping you avoid the pitfall of on-boarding a bad hire.