If you are a hiring manager, you will likely feel some stress during the interview process. Most of the books and articles about hiring are aimed at the job seekers, and the job seeker’s challenge is considered one of the most stressful life experiences. But our focus here is the other side – you, the hiring manager.
Hiring the right fit for your team
The challenge of hiring the right fit for your team is not as easy as having a pleasant conversation with someone and plucking the right candidate from a select few. If it were that easy, there would be no bad hires, no decisions regretted, and no time spent training a new employee only to realize that you hired the wrong person.
Knowing that the wrong hire is likely a big expense and a disruption to the organization, it’s important to get it right the first time. Working through the interview process, then realizing that the culture fit or experience fit just isn’t there, you will have to go through the firing process. Then you will initiate the hiring process again, and re-hire, retrain and retain a new employee. This costs not only money but your time and attention which is already spread thin.
Here, then is one way to improve that process.
Define the job
One amazing fact is that hiring managers don’t take the time to define what they are looking for. They somehow think they will magically find a unicorn. Someone who can fill a job they haven’t defined. Instead, take the time to list the requirements, tasks and the hard and soft skills that are important for the job you’re hiring for. Take your list to several of your peers and others who will interact with the person you hire to ensure that you’ve captured the essence of the job.
If you do this well, you will attract the job seekers who see themselves as the perfect candidate and encourage the others to see they aren’t a fit and not apply. Helping candidates weed themselves out will save both you and the job seekers lots of time.
Taking the time to develop a good job description will also be a great foundation for drafting focused and relevant interview questions.
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