Hire With Confidence

£250,000. That’s how much it costs my organisation when I hire the wrong the person.

Now you might be wondering how much I pay in agency fees, but I’m talking about the true cost of employee turnover. It’s natural to only think of the direct costs associated with recruitment, but these pale in comparison to the opportunity costs incurred through lost productivity as people leave and join a business.

So, if you make hiring decisions, the real costs associated with getting it wrong probably run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. But don’t panic! I’ve got 3 simple tips for you that will boost your chances of hiring the right person.

Let’s get started with our first tip.

Tip 1: Have a really clear picture of the person you want to hire.

This starts with the job you want them to do, so make sure you’re really clear on what that is.

Then decide what skills, experience, knowledge and behaviours you need.

You also need to think really hard about what you don’t need. Where can you compromise. Being flexible in your hiring requirements opens up your addressable market of potential candidates, and makes it more likely that you get the right candidate.

Let’s illustrate this with an example. If I’m hiring for a senior software engineer, then strong design and programming skills are going to be top of my list. I’m also going to need someone who can communicate complex technical issues to a range of non-technical stakeholders. However, I probably don’t need people leadership skills, and I’m not overly worried about which specific technologies they have experience of.

Now that we have a clear picture of who we’re trying to hire, we can move on to tip 2.

Tip 2: Have an objective way of assessing a candidate against your criteria.

Typically all you need is a practical doing-the-job type test, and a small set of competency based questions.

The on the job test will tell you how well they can do the job you’re bringing them in to do. For software engineers I get them to write some code, and this tells us a lot about them. Do they follow best practice? How do they approach design? How do they make sure they build the right thing?

A competency based interview is then the best way to find out about the candidates wider competencies. Ask the candidates to talk about times where they have demonstrated the competencies you’re looking for. This focus on what they have done, as opposed to hypothetical questions about what they might do, is an effective way to predict on-the-job performance. Going back to my senior software engineer example, I might ask them to tell me about a time where they’ve embedded a new development technique in their organisation.

For both stages, make sure you have a clear view of what good looks like so that you can objectively score the candidates performance. This is a great check against unconscious bias, and sets you up nicely for tip 3…

Tip 3: Move quickly

Speed is really important when the market for talent is highly competitive. If you’re slow, then there’s a good chance your perfect candidate will have accepted another offer before you even get to interview. The faster you move, the more likely it is that a candidate will accept your offer.

So:

  • Screen CVs as they come in and aim to get any interview invites out the same day you receive the CV.
  • The interview should be at the candidates earliest convenience, not yours. Remember how important getting the right candidate is, so prioritise accordingly!
  • Complete all stages of the interview on the same day. No multi-day interviews allowed - they just waste time and frankly they’re inconsiderate to the candidate.
  • Finally, make a decision and get back to the candidate on the day of the interview. Get all interviewers together immediately after the interview, compare scores, and make a yes / no decision there and then. If you need approvals, get everyone lined up in advance. If it’s a ‘yes’ then give the candidate a call and make your offer.

So that’s it. 3 tips that will boost your chances of hiring the right person:

  1. Be really clear about what you’re looking for. What skills, experience, knowledge and behaviours do you need?
  2. Have an objective way of assessing a candidate against your criteria. Have an on the job test, a small set of competency based questions, and a clear view of what good looks like.
  3. Move quickly. Waste no time in getting to offer, and maximise the chance that your ideal candidate accepts your offer.

You’ll never get the right person 100% of the time, but following these tips could help you avoid a very costly mistake.