Tips for Making the Right Hire the First Time

For about a year the unemployment rate has been under 4.5 percent (4.1 percent for the past five months). That, among other industry or regional employment phenomena, may be affecting your ability to find the right employees for your open positions. It may already have affected your business to the point that you’ve made a wrong hire or two in a rush to “get a body in there” and satisfy your team’s need for help.

That’s the ultimate challenge hiring managers and recruiters face – finding the right talent and making the right hire the first time.

Finding the perfect person for a position becomes more difficult as competition increases and demand for expertise grows faster than people can be trained or gain experience – which is the market condition we’re experiencing right now as unemployment remains low and the demand for specific skills and abilities is high.

Despite the challenges, hiring the right person the first time can save companies money as well as limit disruption to the business.

Here are a few tips that can help you make the right hire the first time, even for those hard-to-fill positions. Although you may be engaged in these activities, maybe it’s time to re-examine them.

Get different perspectives. It’s a good idea to periodically review the list of people interviewing candidates to make sure there’s a good cross-section of individuals who can provide insight. If you’re having trouble finding someone to fill a position, it may be useful to bring in different people to interview prospects and provide additional feedback. It could be a staffing and recruiting professional; someone who interacts with the vacant role periodically; or someone who has nothing to do with the open position, but has been with the company many years.

Test a candidate’s skills. Consider a test to assess a candidate’s skills for the job, how she might interact with co-workers, or basic office equipment skills. If you’re already doing a form of testing, take a second look to see if it’s effective or if you might consider another type of test as an addition or a replacement.

Get social. Most organizations already are checking social sites and a candidate’s postings. If settings allow, checking friends and network connections can provide additional insight into a candidate’s priorities. Even the privacy settings and amount of information shared by a candidate can be telling. For example, the most open candidates (the ones who post birth dates, share locations, or have more open privacy settings) may not be the best options for security roles or positions requiring a high level of discretion.

Establish an internship program. Implementing an internship program can address two hiring challenges: knowing a candidate will fit into the company culture and that he’ll have the experience needed to fulfill the role. Considering interns for full-time, direct positions is a cost-efficient way to ensure you’re hiring a known quantity.

Contact a Lee Group office near you for your staffing and executive search needs. The team at The Lee Group can help you to uncover attributes you may be overlooking – the good and not-so-good – and find candidates that get you to the right hire the first time.