Hiring is one of the most stressful, high-stakes tasks any business has to face. The cost of onboarding an employee is about $240,000, and the true cost of a bad hire is at least 30% of that employee's first-year earnings.
Because the wrong person could put a significant dent in your revenue, it's essential to make the right choice from the start.
Nine successful human resources executives from Forbes Human Resources Council share one way to gain insights during the hiring process that will allow you choose the best candidate for the job.
1. Quantify Deliverables During The Interview
Create a list of deliverables expected to be achieved at the 30-, 60- and 90-day mark for the role before you interview. During the interview, use this to set expectations on what the candidate should be able to accomplish by when. Ask how the candidate would achieve the deliverables and who they would engage to assess competency. You will be able to assess skill, judgement and process to meet your needs. -Kristin Williams, Ultra Mobile
2. Take Your Time
I recently allowed the sense of urgency for a key position speed up the process in hiring a candidate. Within 30 days of hire, we were terminating the candidate for poor performance. The pressure around getting someone in soon got the better of me, and it ended up being very costly. Had I slowed the process down and spent more time screening, I may have been able to avoid the situation. - Michele Gonzalez-Pitek, The Unity Council
3. Pay Attention To The Candidate's Questions
The candidate's questions often provide more insight than the actual interview. Have they researched your employee brand prior to the interview? Can they tell you what makes your culture unique? When a candidate has a genuine, authentic desire to join your company, because their personal values align with your culture, the potential is limitless. Everything else can be taught. - Kelly Porter, Harmless Harvest
4. Ask Subjective, Culture-Oriented Questions
Much of the early hiring process is ruled by technology "picking" the right candidate from your ATS system. Data is objective and helps place the most experienced candidates in the interview room. After that, you need to find the right cultural and behavioral fit. Throw out some off-the-wall culture questions and ask candidates about specific scenarios they may encounter. Personality is important. - Ashley Wilczek, Justice AV Solutions
5. Make The Interview Fun To Let Candidates Be Themselves
Interviews are just as much about gauging a potential hire's cultural fit as it is their technical fit and ability. It's very hard to get someone to open up if you create a "traditional interview" posture: cold and dry. Make the experience fun for the candidate! Engage. Talk. Laugh. You are much more likely to get accurate info about cultural fit and ability when the candidate is comfortable. - Brett Comeaux, LG Fairmont
6. Use The Past As A Roadmap for the Future
Before posting the job, analyze turnover reasons, tenure of hires, source of hires and leaders who have managed the position. The data should help you determine if you have internal factors, external influences, or a combination of the two that need to be addressed before the hiring process starts. Otherwise, you will have a cycle of hire, turnover, hire. - Bridgette Wilder, Media Fusion
7. Look For Candidates With Heart
In Work Rules! author Laszlo Bock explains the interview process at Google in great detail and how, too often, we interview for the wrong things — what candidates look like on paper instead of how they will fit into the company culture. HR can do a better job of filling positions by looking for candidates who not only have the chops to do the work, but have a true heart for the company’s mission. - Todd Richardson, Emplify
8. Keep Asking Questions
I keep asking "why." Ask candidates about accomplishments they've had and dig until you fully understand their role in them. You'll be able to identify their passion (or lack of passion), whether they were a part of the team, or whether they lead the team. When it's someone great, you'll see their learnings, failures and mastery of the subject. Once you get to this point, you know you have someone good. - Brittany Forsyth, Shopify
9. Use The Phone Interview To Pre-Screen
Before an in-person interview occurs, do a thorough phone screen first. During this discussion, you should flush out questions about duties, culture, salary expectations, their work history, and where you will need to devote more training time. By flushing out deal-breakers, you are saving valuable face time, allowing you to narrow in on the perfect candidate. - Sarah O'Neill, Digital Trends
