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9 Horrific Hiring Mistakes

Hiring is a science and an art if you approach the process properly. Here are 9 common mistakes made by large and small companies, and how you can avoid them.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS: Poorly written job descriptions will yield poor results. “Poorly written” could be defined as grammatical errors and misspellings, but I am referring to generic job descriptions or unspecific, misleading job descriptions. Investing time in the writing of accurate, unique job descriptions will help job-seekers determine if they are a job fit for the position.

 

INTERVIEW TEAM: Depending on your industry, the interview process will vary. Just remember: if the team of employees interviewing the candidates are not on the same page, the candidate will know, and you could lose the right candidate. Take time to prepare for the interviewing process as a team. This will keep everyone on the same page and ensure that necessary topics are discussed.

 

BAD BEHAVIOR: The interviewer must be on best behavior. The candidate’s time is important too. Don’t expect a highly qualified professional to wait an exorbitant amount of time for you–especially if they arrive early. The interviewer should be conscious not to: speak poorly of the company or other employees; take personal or professional calls during the interview; or multi-task in any fashion while conducting the interview. It is also important to dress appropriately for the interview and please, for the love of Human Resources, don’t eat lunch while interviewing potential employees.

 

FOLLOWING UP: It’s simple. If you are not following up with candidates, you are getting a bad reputation in the world of job-seekers. Applicant Tracking Systems like HireCentric make it easy to send a customized email to applicants that thanks them for their interest and lets them know if the position is a good fit for them.

 

RESPECT: Another simple thing that can easily be forgotten by interviewers is to respect others. Repeating the same questions can be monotonous,  a particular trait of the candidate could be one of your personal pet peeves, or perhaps you just have stress in your personal–none of that gives you the right to look down on candidates. Don’t treat candidates poorly. You will likely be interviewing some time again in your professional life, so remember the Golden Rule.

 

COMMUNICATION: During the pre-employment screening process, you may find yourself engaged in conversations via phone, email, or face-to-face. Use these opportunities to assess the candidate’s communication skills. You will likely discover how this person would fit your company culture–before the final hiring stage. Ignoring communication skills, or lack thereof, can be detrimental to your current work environment.

 

IGNORING WARNING SIGNS: Similar to ignoring queues on communication skills, ignoring a candidate’s negative tone or personality traits can ruin your work environment. During the prescreening process, you should take notes on personality traits that will enhance or spoil your current environment. A candidate with less education and experience may be a better fit than an experienced “Mr. Negativity”. Job-shadowing in the final stage can also help to ensure that you hire the right person.

 

REFERENCES: Not checking references may be a time-saver today, but it could prove to be a costly mistake. Checking references will verify the dates of employment and daily tasks indicated by the candidate on their resume. Getting insight on work ethic, weaknesses, and attendance can also be helpful when making a final decision between a few, seemingly great, candidates. References that don’t say much versus a reference that raves over a past employee can be a tell-tale sign of who you want on your team.

 

SKILLS TESTING: Making good hiring decisions is all about having the best data. From cognitive and skills-based assessments to behavioral and interest-based evaluations, hiring managers can gather enough data to get a strong sense of an applicant before they even meet for an interview. Applicants fill out these assessments on their own, and the software automatically scores and evaluates the assessments, providing an in-depth picture of every candidate without adding any work on the shoulders of hiring staff. Assessments can be administered as part of the application process to serve as an early round of evaluation. This can help flag potential employees who may be a poor fit and identify “good fit” candidates based on criteria not typically gathered through a traditional application.

 

Image credit: Panama Bussiness 2 (desaturated) by Think Panama (contact)

Email Your Network to Find Applicants — Avoid This Mistake

Referrals that come from your network are likely the most reliable and best-suited for your needs.*

*There is always an asterisk, isn’t there? If you are selective about who you request referrals from, their recommendation can be well-suited for your needs. This applies to appliances, restaurants, and yes, even applicants. Let’s focus in on recommendations for applicants.

How You May Email Your Network Now

We’re seeking talented individuals. We spend time putting together a glamorous job description. We make sure the job is published on our website through our applicant tracking software. We then scour our contact list for those in our network that are the “connectors”–to borrow a term from Malcolm Gladwell. Now we email our selected list of connectors.

“Hi! We have a position available. Let me tell you about it, and if you know of someone who would fit, please send this to that person. Tell them to email me at xyz@mycompany.com.”

Congratulations! You have now created more work for yourself.

Improve How You Email Your Network

This is one of the big mistakes made when emailing our networks, especially when we’re in a hurry. The basic improvement is to switch out your email address for the url of the online employment application. Rather than manually entering in an applicant’s information after you receive it via email, have the applicant enter the information in directly themselves.

Usually, you track applicant sources with applicant tracking software. Then, you can even run reports based on those sources. ExactHire ATS does something even cooler: it allows you to customize the referral information into a unique link. By using our job listing promotion tools, you can enter specific text to create a customized link.

For example, I might enter “RShuck Professional”, and then “RShuck Personal” on another, so that I generate two links to send to two different batches of contacts. When the referred applicants apply, their sources will appear in our ExactHire applicant tracking software as having come from RShuck Professional or RShuck Personal.

If you are so inclined, you could send out individual links to your contacts such as “RShuck to JTimberlake”. In this way, anyone who received JTimberlake ‘s link could apply and it would be tracked back to him as being the “connector”. This is extremely valuable when seeking applicants for hard-to-fill positions, especially when trying to offer a bonus for the referral.


For more information on how to engage applicants using custom links: ExactHire clients can visit our Knowledge Base, and prospective clients can schedule a quick consultation.

 

Image credit: Networking by Ricki888c (contact)

Perfectly Indispensable – 11 Ways to Impress Your Boss

High unemployment rates, volatile markets, and the constant need for businesses to run leaner are all great reasons to become indispensable at work. Let the perfect employee that lives within you radiate through your office, and recession proof yourself!

Increase your personal stock value and make sure you get noticed with:

11 Ways To Win at Work…And Impress Your Boss

1) Be timely and accountable. No one ever needed an employee who was a day late and a dollar short.

2) Use communication properly. Make sure you listen as much as you speak. Communication must go both ways or it doesn’t work.

3) Develop team morale. Don’t just bring in doughnuts on Fridays, offer to help a colleague who you know is overwhelmed. Volunteer to spearhead the project that nobody wants to take on and develop a fun and exciting way to tackle it.

4) Solve issues with solutions, don’t complain. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” In this case, as long as you have a suggestion on the issue, you can bring it up. Otherwise, keep it to yourself until you have an idea.

5) Know the industry. Spend personal time reading relevant and reputable articles that are in line with your work.  By keeping up on the latest and greatest, you are sure to help the business succeed.

6) Pick the hard action-items. When you leave your comfort zone, you will get noticed.

7) Become a SME. Subject Matter Experts are important to your boss and your co-workers. If you are the go-to person for a system, procedure, or difficult client, nobody wants to lose you.

8) Be productive, not just quick. Sure Sally can finish five projects in a day, but none of them are completed properly. Put the extra time into the details and make your pizazz show–your boss and customers will notice.

9) Commit yourself. Sounds pretty straight-forward, but commitment is hard. Luckily, it is also worth the trouble.

10) Embrace and share a positive attitude. Nobody likes a “Debbie Downer” or “Negative Nelly”. Look for that silver-lining and share the positive vibes. It will make your work day happier and more productive, and it might rub off on your coworkers, too.

11) Be reliable. If your boss can’t trust you to turn in something by the deadline, you will quickly be replaced. However, if you have a reputation for always being on time and turning in quality work, that will be duly noted by your peers and management.

Be Indispensable

Once you have mastered these behaviors, you are sure to be considered an indispensable part of your team. Of course, you should know that you will be held to these high-standards that you have created for yourself, too. If you happen to fall short of expectations one day, it will surely be noticed. But all in all, that is a small price to pay compared to what you will gain in not only job security, but most likely in additional financial rewards too. Raises, promotions, special projects and accolades will be yours for the taking!

Image credit: the garden of forking paths by Snap (contact)

Passing On Advice – Are You All Ears?

Every year around graduation time people come up with lists of advice. I enjoy seeing what advice other people have been given and what advice they’re passing along. We learn by sharing ideas and thoughts; gleaning little nuggets here and there. Why wait until graduation to pass along golden nuggets? Here’s my list of the best advice I’ve been given from my mentors.

Everything Has a Price

The first time I heard this I did a little gasp. Did I really hear this correctly? EVERYTHING has a price?! Yes. EVERYTHING. I challenge you; name something that you think has no price. Do you have it? Now stop thinking only in terms of money and include time and life. Those things have value and thus have a price.

Why does this matter? The same philosophy behind the statement of missing 100% of the shots you don’t take. If you are interested in something, inquire about it. Many experiences, opportunities, and purchases will present themselves if only you ask, “How much does this cost?” Keep in mind, just because something has a price doesn’t mean you have to pay it. It is your decision if you are willing to pay the price. But everything does have a price. What matters is your consideration and decision on whether the benefit justifies the cost.

Pay It Forward

I am a compilation of investment from others. Time, thought, money, knowledge. I recall my mentor saying one day, “I invest in you and your generation, so that you can invest in someone else and their generation and the cycle will continue. Pay it forward when you can.”

Turns out investing in others is just as important to their growth as it is to your own. Paying it forward has a healthy impact on you as much as it does your recipient.

Answer the Unasked Question

This one is important because often people do not know what they don’t know. If I had no idea that it was possible for candy to be placed inside of a paper mache figure, how would I know that I should beat it until it busts? If people do not know what to ask, it’s most helpful if you answer the unasked question. To know if you are answering the unasked question, try playing the why game. Once you’ve exhausted most or all of the whys, you have answered the unasked question.

For example, “Do kids like piñatas at birthday parties?” could be answered with a simple yes, but then many why questions could follow. Instead a possible answer could be, “Yes, usually kids ages seven and older like piñatas at birthday parties because the coordination they demonstrate to hit the paper mache figure filled with candy until it bursts, while blindfolded, is entertaining as well as surprising.” The trick to this piece of advice, is knowing when to voluntarily provide this information and when a simple yes would satisfy. At ExactHire, we do our best to try to answer the unasked questions when working with clients on software implementations and ongoing support requests.

What kind of advice have you been given that has stuck with you?

ExactHire offers software applications that help small- to mid-sized business leverage technology to automate hiring process-related tasks. For more information about our products and ongoing service, please visit our resources section or contact us.

Image credit: Sage Advice by Randy Heinitz (contact)

Workplace Motivation – Act Like Your Job is Brand New Every Day

We all know that staying motivated at work will more often than not lead to career success…but sometimes this can be a struggle to do, regardless. Now that most people have given up their New Year’s resolutions, here is a good tip to stay motivated at work (as well as in your personal life) throughout the remainder of the year! This seems simple, but sometimes things are easier said than done. Treat your current job as if it were BRAND NEW! Here’s how…

Climbing Up the Corporate Ladder – Make a Plan!

To succeed or advance in your career, you need to be noticed by others of authority in your organization. The most obvious way to do this is to do an excellent job at your current position. Working hard now will pay off down your career path. Now that you know this is what you need today, make a plan on how to execute, making each day another step toward your success. First, think of two other positions within your company that you would like to obtain. Then look at what qualities you have that would make you a good candidate for these jobs. Using this list, create an action plan that showcases your skills.

Differentiate Yourself

Just like when you first started your job, you enjoyed the challenges of what each day would bring. Another way to stay motivated at work is to look at things in a new light – ask yourself, what can I do differently today to still accomplish my goals? Thinking outside the box will help get you noticed by others, making advancement possible and work more challenging and fun. Enjoying your job will likely lead to you being more efficient. Ways to differentiate yourself would be to cross train in another department, join professional groups within your interest areas, seek out special projects and offer help to other staff members whenever possible. Remember to make sure you are still fulfilling your daily job requirements, as well.

Use Your Support Team

Many people don’t like to ask for help, so if you fall into that category, think of it as asking for guidance, instead. Seek out mentors (even if they are not within your organization) who can offer tips on how to succeed or thrive in your current position. Maybe you can take a few classes or network to find similarly-minded people, too. These activities can offer support and improve motivation as you continue your career. Also, speak with your current boss. Let him/her know your action plans and see if he/she has other tips to offer you. If you share your goals with your manager, he/she may be able to help steer you in the right direction of what challenges will best suit you as you work to stay motivated. A happy worker is an efficient and productive one!

ExactHire is a provider of software applications that help companies to automate and improve the recruiting, onboarding and succession planning processes. For more information about our products, please visit our resources page or contact us today.

Image credit: New Beginning by Scott Robinson (contact)