Craving Talent? Improve Your Hiring Process for the New Year

The New Year is a great time to evaluate business processes that could use improvement.  One area that has a huge effect on business success and profits is the hiring process.  If you fail to hire the right candidates for the job, you waste your company’s time and money.  Successful companies streamline their hiring process in a way that allows them find top notch talent and thoroughly evaluate candidates.  If you take the time to choose candidates that contribute to the success of your company, everything else is more likely to fall into place.  Here are some tips to help you improve your hiring process for the New Year:

1)  Look for more soft skills instead of job skills

If you find the right candidate, they can be trained to learn many of the specific skills needed to perform the job.  But in order to properly learn these specific skills, and work well with others in your company, candidates must possess the right soft skills, such as integrity, emotional intelligence, teamwork and the ability to be open to feedback.  To improve your hiring process for the New Year, put more of an emphasis on soft skills in your evaluation of candidates.

2)  Establish a clear timeline for the hiring process

Too often, hiring managers fail to follow a timeline when hiring for a new position and this can be very frustrating for both the candidate and the company.  To improve your hiring process for the New Year, establish a specific timeline beforehand, and communicate this timeline to the candidates you evaluate.  Also, keep candidates in the loop on when they can expect to hear from you again, and communicate all decisions you make to them regarding the position they have applied for.  Not only are you less likely to lose a qualified candidate for the job, but you will also be able to build a bigger network of contacts for future openings in your company.

3)  Start testing candidates

A job candidate can have the best resume in the world, but the only way you will know for sure that they can perform the job properly is to see them in action before they are hired.  To improve your hiring process for the New Year, begin testing candidates on duties they will need to excel at on the job.  This can include having them give writing samples, evaluating their skills for specific computer programs, and having them put together a plan of ideas to improve the company.  Doing this will also allow you to get an idea beforehand of where a candidate you prefer will need more training if you hire them for the job.

4)  Improve your job descriptions

If your job descriptions are too long and wordy, you could be turning away quality talent for job openings at your company.  To improve your hiring process for the New Year, re-evaluate your job descriptions to cut out any unnecessary details and terminology.  Also try to put more focus on what the position can offer the candidate, such as how it will advance their skills and expose them to a new type of environment, as opposed to putting more emphasis on what the candidate can do for the company.

5)  Bring co-workers into the interview process

When you evaluate candidates, you may be unable to look at them from all angles.  To improve your hiring process for the New Year, have others sit in with you on interviews to ensure the candidate’s abilities are being thoroughly evaluated.