Top 10 Tips for New Hiring Managers

Today’s top companies are evaluating new hires on more than skill levels; they are looking for creativity, drive, curiosity, persuasion, adaptability, authenticity, interpersonal skills, and more. Self-confidence, work ethic as well as how individuals collaborate, adapt to new situations, listen, handle challenges, and solve problems are key—and are not trainable skills. Neither is attitude and the way he or she communicates with your current team and customers.

Someone who is a good fit for your company will add to the cohesiveness of your team and lead to a higher success rate in the future... so hiring the right individual is crucial.

Let’s look at 10 essential elements for new hiring managers to utilize during the hiring process.

1.     Know the position inside and out. The more thoroughly you understand the role for which you’re interviewing candidates, the more quickly you’ll identify whether a candidate is qualified to fill that role and work appropriately with other company employees.

2.     Prescreen all candidates. The interview process can be time consuming. “Prescreening” is an important step where you can gather facts and details about candidates. If done well, it will help ensure that you’re only bringing in the top finalists for in-person interviews. In addition, prescreening helps you learn things about an individual that may not be on their resume and/or in your system—in the event they completed an online job application or applied for the role through a social media site. Create a list of essential questions that will help weed out poor choices and individuals who may not be passionate, ethical or team players. Prescreening also benefits the candidates as they may determine during a prescreening that the position and/or company is not right for them, which saves you time. Prescreening combined with various assessments clarifies the viable candidates, which speeds up the recruitment process, saves you and your team time, and helps you select the most suited candidates for a position.   

3.     Prepare essential questions for each candidate. While you want certain questions answered by all candidates, you’ll also want to customize your approach for each interviewee. Critical thinking questions are good, if they reveal what's important to you. Research candidates ahead of time. Review LinkedIn profiles, research associations with certain projects and various organizations, and check their social media presence. Actively listen, pick up on details, and go beyond the standard questions when needed. Above all, be conscious about judgments based solely on likeability, and do not ask the candidates anything regarding race, family, age or religion.

4.     While there is no hard-and-fast rule, four interviews are typically appropriate for the entire process—especially if you require assessments and/or presentations. However, it also depends on the job level. Hiring the best candidate is critical, and the right balance of interviews will ensure you hire the right candidate. It takes multiple interviews to be sure that the fit is right for you, the candidate, the team, your customers, and the company. In addition, it’s important to ensure you are organized and strategic about the process. Respect all candidates and use their time wisely. Gathering opinions from your entire leadership team is not necessary and often lengthens the process. Scheduling too many interviews says you’re not exactly sure what you need or want. Most importantly, communicate the status with all candidates in a reasonable time frame; be honest and treat each individual how you would want to be treated.

5.     Avoid yes-or-no questions, as these answers won’t tell you much about your potential candidate. Ask several open-ended interview questions. The best interview questions focus on specific examples of the candidate’s activity, decisions, results, how they were effective, and how they made a difference. Probe and be sure to ask what, where, when, and how. Your goal is to learn if candidates can relate their acquired skills and experiences to scenarios they’re likely to encounter at your company. Whether they will be customer facing, working with others internally, or communicating with vendors, you’ll want to ensure that he or she will represent your organization well. Some strong interview questions include the following:

·      How do you evaluate success?

·      Tell me something about you that's not on your resume?

·      What was the most difficult thing you have ever experienced?

·      What is one thing you would change about your life?

·      What has been your biggest failure to date and how did you deal with it?

·      What's something new that you have learned recently?

6.     Avoid clichéd interview questions. When interviewing, skip overused questions like, “What are your top strengths/weaknesses.” The candidate will have already prepared for these and will give you an image-enhancing answer that doesn’t really tell you anything about him or her. Instead, use questions that uncover the “Why’s” of their job search, work experience, and life goals.

7.     Don’t forget… you’re being interviewed too. Most candidates will ask pointed questions about benefits, vacation, corporate culture, and expectations. Spend time before the interview process to prepare basic talking points about your organization. (Your candidate should have done their research as well, and you’ll be able to tell if this is the case.) Also, give the candidate time to ask questions about the prospective role and organization. This is a great way to see how much homework the candidate has done.

8.     Take notes, or if by video or audio record the meeting. It’s easy to get caught up in banter—especially if it’s an interviewee you really click with. However, when it’s time to compare all of the candidates you’ve interviewed, you may need to go back to review your notes. Was the candidate well prepared and dressed for success? Did he or she arrive to the meeting on time? Did he or she come across enthusiastic, passionate, confident, friendly, and professional? Were they able to communicate effectively and get their point across without talking in circles? Did they listen? Did they do their homework and ask you impressive questions? Did they close you at the end? Was there anything that bothered you about the candidate’s responses or demeanor?

9.     Bring in an interview partner. Chances are, you’re not going to catch everything or remember to ask every applicable question. Bring in a relevant colleague to help you cover your bases and ensure that no relevant topic is overlooked. Together, you can review interview questions in advance, tag team the interview, and compare notes afterward.

10. Make a hiring decision in a reasonable time frame. Talented candidates usually have a range of options and will find a new opportunity quickly—especially today in times of low unemployment. If a candidate impresses you, be prepared to offer next steps at the end of the interview. Provide a specific action item and timeline, such as, “We want to schedule a second interview with you next Tuesday” or “We plan to follow up with you by the end of this week.” Taking too much time to decide on next steps will ensure that you will lose talented candidates.

These 10 strategies will help you select the right candidates for your company and for your team. In addition, the right process safeguards efficiency and becomes an enjoyable experience for everyone involved!

Are you in need of assistance with your hiring process? Give me a call today at 919-274-5920.

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