The US-based mobile security solutions company Location Labs boasts of 95% retention rate. It shows that it is doing an amazing job of hiring the right employees.
Location Labs is, of course, an exceptional case. Hiring disasters are not uncommon, and honestly, there is no spot-on trick for avoiding so. Nevertheless, you need to be careful while hiring your talent. Or else, your manpower cost could skyrocket. A Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) study reveals that the true cost of a bad hire is as much as five times the person’s salary!
Here are 5 tips which could help you to hire the right fit for your organisation.
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List Your Expectations in a Job Description
What position(s) you want to fill? What qualifications, skills, experience and qualities do you expect for this position? What would be the employee’s duties and responsibilities? What outcomes would he be required to deliver? What would be the appropriate compensation package? A job description would answer all these questions for you as well as the candidate. It will align your expectations to the candidate’s expectations and will attract only those who fit into the criteria.
Improve Hiring Precision with a Pre-screening Assessment
Now that you have a list of potential employees in the convergence of the job description, it is also equally imperative to conduct a pre-screening evaluation. Remember, what you see on the paper (resume) is not necessarily what you need (the right fit). A quick phone interview would give you a fair idea about the candidate’s communication skills, attitude and personality, which resumes can’t tell. This way, you can eliminate a few more unfits.
Test the Candidate on On-Job Skills
A face-to-face meeting with the potential employee could reveal more about his mindset, aspirations, professionalism, strengths and weaknesses. Ask him questions that reveal what drives him in his career, what he thinks about teamwork, why does he want to make a switch, what type of work commitment is he ready to make and what is his approach to problem-solving. Also, instead of just shooting point blank questions, you could give him real-life situations that will test his creative, analytical, brainstorming, behavioural and social skills required for the job.
Hire for the Cultural Fit
Hiring an employee is akin to finding a partner for marriage. The compatibility matters a great deal. In the case of organisations, this compatibility is the cultural fit. Did you know that 89% of hiring failures are due to the cultural fit and 50% of employee engagement stems from cultural fit? While interviewing the candidate, find out if his personal values match to the values of the organisation. If it doesn’t, then it’s your clue to bid him goodbye no matter how experienced or skilled he is.
You could take lessons in culture-based hiring from the popular online retailer Zappos. It gives its candidates onsite tours to introduce them to the work environment. It asks them deal-breaker questions such as whether he is not willing to relocate or socialise with co-workers. All these steps help Zappos to determine the cultural fit.
Conduct Background Verification
It would be in your favour to run a background check on the potential employee with respect to his resume, previous employer, criminal records and any other security aspects that matter to your organisation. Sometimes, a seemingly right employee may fail to deliver on this parameter.
If there are several decision-makers involved in the hiring process, do ensure take everyone’s inputs and perspectives to arrive at a consensus. Hiring the right fit ensures that your organisation has quality, productive and effective talent pool. Don’t rush your hiring – investing in present will save you from the troubles in future.
About the Author: This article is contributed by Amit Dua who is Co-Founder and CEO at Signity Solutions and ValueAppz.
