Hiring is often fraught with challenges. Many traditional screening processes only give you general insights into a candidate’s hard skills, education, and past work experience. While that is certainly helpful, it still leaves the picture incomplete.
Ultimately, there’s more to long-term success than technical capability. If you don’t factor in the other parts of the equation, your hiring process is functionally incomplete.
Luckily, by adjusting your approach and, at times, your priorities, you can make better hiring decisions. If you aren’t sure where to begin, here are some tips that can help.
Revisit Your Must-Haves
Many companies make the mistake of looking for a perfect candidate. They create job descriptions with laundry lists of must-have skills and experience. Then, when it comes time to interview job seekers, they find their talent pool insufficient.
When you go overboard with the must-haves, you miss out on top talent. You’re limiting your candidate pool dramatically, as many professionals won’t submit an application unless they have the vast majority—if not all—of what you’re after. Plus, the approach can be causing you to overlook professionals with amazing potential to thrive simply because they don’t check a single box.
Instead of using that approach, shrink your must-have list down to just skills that are genuinely essential on day one. If you’re open to training a particular skill, shift it to the nice-to-have section or remove it from the vacancy announcement entirely. That way, you can secure a larger talent pool of candidates that may genuinely be able to meet your needs, increasing the odds that you’ll find the right match.
Assess Culture Fit
Even the most robust skillset in the world won’t lead to success if the candidate doesn’t mesh with your company’s culture. Without the right traits, the new hire may be relegated to the status of outsider, causing them to struggle when they need to collaborate with team members or communicate cross-departmentally.
Ideally, you want to take stock of a candidate’s personality during the interview. Ask behavioral interview questions to gain insight into their mindset, making it more likely that you can separate candidate who can excel in your culture from those that may not.
Work with a Staffing Firm
If you are genuinely having trouble finding the right candidates, working with a staffing firm can be a great move. You’ll gain access to recruitment and hiring experts who can help modernize and refine your processes. Plus, staffing agencies maintain large networks for talent, giving you access to a deeper talent pool than you can tap otherwise.
Finally, by working with a staffing firm, you have a unique opportunity. By using a temp-to-hire arrangement, you can bring strong candidates into your workplace, allowing you to assess their capabilities while they are an active part of your team. You only have to make a permanent hiring decision once you’ve found an excellent match, giving you greater flexibility.
If you’d like to find out more about what a leading staffing firm can do for you, the team at GSG Talent Solutions can help. Contact us today.