In our last blog post, we concentrated on some tips for employers. We thought that it would be informative to take a look at the top recruitment mistakes, so you can avoid the sort of problems that other businesses frequently encounter.
Getting the interview questions wrong
An interview sometimes lasts for considerably less time than an average trip to the supermarket. This means that it’s absolutely critical that time should be well spent, enabling you to really get to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate.
You need to ensure that interview questions are really designed to identify whether the individual concerned will really be suited to your requirements. If you don’t prepare questions properly in advance and if you decide to simply ask questions that are superficial in nature, then you’ll discover that the responses are far from enlightening.
It’s to be expected that candidate will spend some time preparing for an interview and that they will have standard answers in place. Although you shouldn’t be looking to trick a candidate, you certainly should be seeking to understand how they deal with more difficult queries. Take the time in advance of the interview to prepare questions that will provide revealing answers, so that you can judge each of the candidates properly.
Placing too much emphasis on the interview
An interview is a critical stage of the recruitment process, but it’s worth remembering that it’s far from being the only stage of the process.
You may be short on time, particularly if you’re looking to hire someone to reduce the pressure that is currently placed upon yourself. But it can be disastrous to simply rely on the interview.
Some individuals are very well rehearsed and perform extremely well at interview, but this doesn’t always make them great candidates. Take a look at CVs and any communication that takes place both prior to and after the interview. Always follow up on references too, since they will offer an insight for previous employers: you may be surprised to find that the candidate who seemed so perfect at interview is not quite as ideal as you had imagined.
Holding a one-way conversation
The recruitment process is a two-way affair, with the candidate selling their attributes to a prospective employer and with your business attempting to attract the best candidates. Some employers ignore this second part of the occasion.
Recruiting costs time and money, so it’s important that you derive full value from the exercise. It’s worth remembering that value isn’t simply valued in the ability to make the right appointment. You also have the opportunity to sell your business. You never know how many job offers a candidate may receive, so you need to ensure that you do a good job of promoting your own business.
But the benefits of doing so go much wider than simply allowing you to secure the right candidate. You never know what that individual’s wider network may look like. They may well be speaking to other professionals about your business, meaning that they could have access to future clients, suppliers and prospective employees.
We’ll have further advice on top recruitment mistakes in part 2 of our series.