Dos and don'ts in the hiring process
By Kathline Holmes, CHRP
November 9, 2009
With the cost of recruitment sourcing and selection for an entry level role at more than $22,000, your organization cannot afford to make a bad hire. Contributing to the cost of a bad hire is increased employee turnover, lost work days, inefficiency, lost customers, and increased workplace accidents. And these are just a few of the problems that can develop. Your hiring process impacts your businesses finances. By adding structure to your hiring processes, you save yourself time and money.
Here are some tips to consider for your next hire:
Do
- Prepare beforehand. Ensure your interview panel is knowledgeable about the hiring process and informed about what you want in a new hire. Make sure they have the tools they need to make the best hiring decision.
- Know your purpose. Know what you want and need in the new hire.
- Know the legal considerations. Know what you can and cannot ask in an interview. Know what documentation you require to support your hiring decision.
- Prepare your documents. Prepare all hiring documentation beforehand. This saves considerable time later and makes the hiring process simple.
- Ensure consistency. Consistency in questioning potential candidates ensures a fair process and an informed hiring decision.
- Set appropriate timelines. Plan the time it will take to conduct your shortlisting, interviewing, reference checking, and job offer. Poor planning makes for poor hiring decisions.
- Set a comfortable atmosphere for the interview. When a candidate is more comfortable, you can elicit more information from which to base your hiring decision.
- Check references. Confirming the information shared in the interview process is an important step to ensuring you have the right candidate.
- Inform the candidates about your hiring decision. The candidate that you did not choose may be the ideal candidate for the future; make your impression a good one. Every candidate you have contact with is a messenger for your business; how you interact with them will determine how they speak about you and your organization to others.
- Document all of your hiring processes. These documents may be required to support your hiring decision.
Don’t
- Hire without a plan. Your plan will keep you on track and ensure your hiring decision is based on your business needs.
- Forget to plan your interview questions carefully. Consistent questioning makes for fair hiring practices and informed hiring decisions.
- Neglect to communicate with the applicants. Your applicants are messengers for your business. You want to make a good impression, even with people you are not interested in hiring; they may be potential customers and will influence potential customers.
- Forget to document. Your hiring decision may be challenged. Be prepared to support your hiring decision through proper documentation of your hiring decision.
- Assume your hiring panel knows how to hire effectively and efficiently. Prepare your hiring panel beforehand to ensure the right hiring decision can be made.
- Assume everything you hear in the interview is the truth. Verify your impression by checking references.
By following these simple tips, you can increase the retention of your new hires, decrease employee turnover, decrease the inefficiency in your workplace, improve your customer service and, overall, provide a cost savings to your business through more efficient and effective hiring practices
Kathline Holmes, president of Gailforce Resources, is a Certified Human
Resources Professional with strategic human resources management training
from Cornell University. She serves on the BC Human Resources Management
Association Advisory Council for the Southern Interior Region, has
contributed articles for HEART Business Journal for Women, acts as an HR
Expert for Business to Business, and volunteers as a mentor for the Women's
Enterprise Centre. Contact her at Kathy@gailforceresources.com.
