Workers are the lifeline of businesses in this ultra-competitive global economy. However, expenses tend to ramp up when seeking the perfect hire, with the average cost per hire hitting almost $4,700 in 2024. HR professionals must also exhaust countless days and so much energy to fill open positions.
For employers who want to ensure their investments will be put to good use, understanding the best way to hire employees effectively is vital, regardless of whether you’re hiring for the first time or the nth time.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why selecting the best candidates matter
A key reason why selecting the best candidates is important lies in the expenses of each hire. If one out of three new staff quit their job after a month, you lose one-third of your investment return. Depending on the role they filled, you might have to spend another cycle of resources to find a new replacement.
Nevertheless, these benefits are the main reasons why it's crucial to find the right candidate for the job:
To hasten business growth
A great candidate could help a brand flourish sooner rather than later. Their new ideas can even be refreshing for companies with stagnant processes so they can meet their long-term goals.
To improve the work environment
Choosing a new candidate is always a gamble. However, the ideal one could influence the existing work environment and culture or even completely change it for good.
To stabilize hiring metrics
Securing the best talent also means hitting the marks on increasing acquisition and retention rates. Aside from improving the image of your HR department, it also boosts the whole enterprise’s image.
To boost productivity
Star team members can help you move along projects and get work done faster. It can also encourage other personnel to work on the same caliber.
To connect with other qualified candidates
Your future hire may have a network of other people suitable for your job openings. If your company has a great employer brand, candidates are more likely to spread the word and refer other potential hires.
Qualities of a good candidate
Understanding what a good applicant should be like can help you identify them from the job pool. These traits are at the core of what a good candidate should possess:
Strong work ethic
A good candidate should exercise professional behavior within the workplace, from arriving at the office on time to practicing integrity.
Reliable technical expertise
Technical skills like computer proficiency and project management should match the job requirements. Determine which abilities are non-negotiable in the line of work and use it as a benchmark.
Valuable soft skills
Soft skills like effective communication and adaptability are just as important as technical skills. These are the traits that can make or break hard skills and can be the tie-breaker when it becomes difficult to choose between two highly skilled candidates.
Commitment to work
A new hire should be proactive when joining a team. They should have a personality that takes the initiative and be determined to get things done.
How to hire the right person
Hiring employees can take about a month or more, as you must be detailed throughout the process. Take note of these steps to make it worthwhile:
Step 1: Clarify your expectations
Clear communication about your expectations is vital when hiring. It helps interested applicants gauge how ready they are for the role and lets you filter out those who are just spamming any listing they come across with their resumé and portfolio.
Being firm about what you want in your ideal worker starts with what you put in your job description. List the responsibilities this position would require fulfilling, as well as the skills they would have to demonstrate.
If you’re having trouble with this step, think about the company’s best staff member at the moment. Write down the skills and traits you’d want them to replicate in your work environment.
Pro tip: Be as concise as possible to make the job post easy to read.
Step 2: Maximize your hiring avenues
There are various suitable ways to hire employees. If you’re looking for insider prospects, posting on an internal job board is one of the best ways to advertise it. Word of mouth can also spread information about the job opening fast.
If you’re looking to outsource, consider working with credible agencies. These organizations will already have a line of capable candidates you can tap into, making the hiring process relatively faster. Just keep in mind that there may be extra expenses involved with this route.
The rise of digitization can also help you advertise to a wider audience. For instance, online job portals are filled with jobseekers waiting for new posts they can apply to. If you want to network, LinkedIn is a great resource to browse different profiles and credentials.
Step 3: Dive through applications
The next task is to look into the applications you receive after casting your net. Some brands utilize applicant tracking systems to collate their candidates, which may offer a feature that can filter who matches the skills and experiences they’re looking for.
But while ATS technology can help sort out documents, it’s still better to have a human eye to manually check the cover letters, resumés, and portfolios. Depending on how advanced they are, some systems may miss out on a promising applicant solely because of formatting issues.
Reviewing applications can be tedious and time-consuming, which calls for more efficient solutions. For instance, you have to look for specific keywords when screening candidates to gauge their experience and expertise. Take notes about each applicant throughout the read-through so you can review them faster afterward.
Step 4: Be on the lookout for bad hires
Hiring the right person also means being able to identify those who may not be a great fit. This can be tricky with candidates who appear to have good credentials, but a closer look at their background might reveal red flags.
For example, job hoppers. If you see someone has worked multiple jobs for only a few months at a time, there’s a chance they will exercise the same habit with you. Unless they are extremely talented, it’s best to avoid the risks.
Step 5: Have a pre-screen interview
Save your resources by adopting pre-screen interviews to narrow down into a smaller pool of applicants. After all, a full interview for every potential hire isn’t really a good recruitment strategy. Arranging a phone call for pre-screening can help you learn about candidates' baseline, such as their salary expectations, qualifications, location, and other basic information.
Candidates who pass the pre-screening interview can be promising prospects, and you can let them move forward to a face-to-face interview. If they end up not being the right fit, you’ve saved extra time and energy for both parties in the hiring process.
If an applicant is late to a phone call interview, there’s a chance they wouldn’t be punctual for a proper discussion at a physical location. Be wary of those who emphasize too much about compensation as well, as they may be just a paycheck seeker.
Step 6: Consider compatibility with the duties
As you move to officially interview candidates, it’s important to assess their overall compatibility with the open position. Do they have the technical skills to fulfill the responsibilities? Are there soft skills that would benefit your work environment?
Along the way, you must define the team and environment for them. If you currently have employees who serve as living representations of your company’s culture, invite them to the meeting to see if they would mesh well with this potential new hire.
You can also encourage your applicant to ask their own questions. The way they word their queries and the areas they fixate on can give you insights into the type of person they are. Try to assess the possibility of conflicts that could disqualify them as a candidate.
Step 7: Prepare personalized interview questions
While you have standard questions about an applicant’s strengths, weaknesses, and more, it’s ideal to prepare personalized interview questions, too. Aside from making the conversation more personable, you get to dig deeper into their background.
For example, maybe a candidate had experience in a different field before shifting into your sector. Ask them about that and learn about their journey. You may discover that they have more passion than others for your nature of work.
Another spontaneous query is to ask what drew them to your job opening. While you learn about what your prospects pay attention to and prioritize, you also get information about what parts of the role tend to draw applicants in.
Step 8: Test the skills and personality
The next step is to test your candidates on what they have shared with you, as some may not be truthful in their applications. You can look for technical assessments and knowledge-based examinations online or curate them yourself.
The beauty of creating your own screening tests is customizing the content according to the job position. While it can take some time, it can ascertain that whoever aces it would be a good fit for the role.
Aside from skill-based assessments, you can also add psychometric personality tests to the mix. These can help you identify a candidate’s strengths, motivations, values, and more. Use this as a reference to determine if they fit your company culture.
Step 9: Shortlist the best candidates
With more insight into your candidates, it’s time to narrow down the choices further by creating a shortlist. This step is especially important when hiring for only a few open positions, as you only want to have the best of the best on your side.
If the competition is tight, one thing you can do is have a checklist of priorities for the role you’re trying to fill. See who checks out more of the qualifications you’re looking for.
Ideally, your shortlist should comprise around half (or even less) of your initial pool. If you can narrow it down to about five people, that’s even better. Ensure you courteously inform those who didn’t make it further about your decisions.
Step 10: Check up on references
With fewer applicants, it’s time to do an even deeper dive. Pull up their resumés and your interview notes to get a complete picture of who they are. You could also call their references to confirm if they're truly commendable.
Remember to get your candidate’s consent when contacting references. Even if they have willingly volunteered the information, they should know about you conducting a background check and contacting a former colleague.
Step 11: Make a decision together
Businesses recognize HR professionals’ capability to pick out the right candidate. However, it’s good to have input from the people in the concerned department. Leaders in the department where the new hire goes to can help pinpoint candidates who can fulfill the responsibilities and fit well with the company culture.
Step 12: Train and trial your chosen candidate
When you’ve finally hired your chosen candidate, it’s ideal to start them on probation. It’s important to get them accustomed to your workflow as soon as possible. Organizations usually allocate about 13% of their training budget to onboarding, as it shows on a 2024 training report. This indicates how important this initial stage is when integrating new hires into an organization.
Training your new hire during their trial period can help them get a full picture of what it would be like to get fully signed onto your brand. If they decide to stay on the team, it can potentially translate to a higher retention rate.
Key takeaways
Figuring out how to hire the right person should be a goal if you want a return on investment from your resources, time, and energy spent. Here are some final tips on how you can get it right the first time around:
- Focus on finding the best candidates: Rather than settling on the available jobseekers, take more time to identify the best candidate for the job. The sooner you prioritize this, the more efficient your hiring process will be.
- Identify the qualities of a good candidate: It would be a challenge to identify what a worthy applicant should look like if you don’t even know what that entails. Evaluate what qualities your ideal candidate should have and rank the most important traits.
- Take your time when hiring employees: Hiring the right person is a step-by-step process that you shouldn't rush. Pay attention to the details and focus on quality assessments over speed.
This is an updated article that was originally published by Andrew Moran in 2019.