Recruiting the Right Interviewees

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It’s easy to find plenty of tips and tricks online and in real life relating to selecting the right candidates after the interview process. But what about selecting candidates for the interviews? Selecting the right people for the selection process before you have even met them? It might seem easy, but it is in fact a very difficult job to do. How do you know if you have let the next star player of your company slip through your fingers because they don’t have a LinkedIn account or because they didn’t put enough on their CV? With so little time and so many candidates to consider for an interview, it’s no wonder many employers can be left exhausted during recruitment.

©Kathryn Decker
©Kathryn Decker

Can a CV tell you if a candidate is the kind of person you want to work with? Can a LinkedIn application show you whether or not you or the candidate are a cultural fit? It is a bit of a minefield, but one you will be able to navigate your way through hopefully with an excellent set of interviewees at the end, just follow these useful tips:

Have They Applied With Care?

On the extreme end of immediately binned applications are those who have spelling mistakes, a lack of information and a lack of relevance to the job role on their CV. Then on the other end you’ll get applicants who follow up their cover letter with an email or phone call, applicants who personalise their cover letter or who make a real effort with tailoring their CV to the job you’re advertising. It’s the applicants at the ‘extra effort’ end of the scale that you want to focus on. So rather than simply looking for the basics – relevant job experience, good spelling and grammar etc – look for those who have made extra effort and who have paid extra attention to their application. Those people show enthusiasm, motivation and real interest in your job.

Make The Most Of References

If you have asked for references on the initial application, make the most of them. Don’t just ask about performance and organisation, ask about personality, humour and relationships with coworkers. This helps you understand more about the person behind the CV and whether or not they will be a good fit for the company. Just remember to check with your HR department as to which questions you can legally ask, there are laws as to how much a reference can tell you and what you can ask.

Offer A Preliminary Interview And Extra Stages

If you really want to get a good idea of what a candidate is like before getting them in for an official interview, consider offering them a ‘pre-interview’ over Skype or over the phone. This can be really useful in getting to know how important the job role is to the person. For example, if you agree a time to phone them and they don’t pick up or they appear to be distracted or uninterested, that’s already a negative sign that they aren’t as ‘up for’ the job as they appeared in their CV or application. You could also add extra stages into the recruitment process, so that your applicants have really been filtered down before they come to an actual interview. Consider adding timed quizzes before a person can submit their CV online, or requesting they complete a type test or similar before they can get through to the next stage. If you have the time to add extra ‘filters’ onto your recruitment process, you will have the best chance of having the most outstanding candidates at interview.

Broaden Your Net

Don’t forget to broaden your net when it comes to hiring. With social media, the world of hiring is pretty endless now, so you’ve no need to restrict your pool of talent to a jobsite or to a website ad. Consider taking applications via your social media channels – just remember to get someone in charge of searching through them all as you could get a phenomenal response.

 

Remember, only you know what you are looking for when it comes to hiring the right candidate for your company. Understand what you want and tailor your recruitment process to seek out those candidates for you – you’ll thank yourself when it comes to interview time!

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