When recruiting new employees, it’s important that you get the very best. But “best” can be subjective. No doubt, your top candidates look very much alike on paper. Their interviews are also likely stellar. So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? How do you even know what you’re looking for when it comes to hiring top performers? Here are a few hiring practices you should look into, to make sure you get the best employees for your company.
Use Data and Analytics
Your company likely has a lot of established hiring practices when it comes to recruiting, interviewing, etc. You may have certain questions to ask, like, “What’s your greatest weakness?” to establish… Well, that’s the problem. The answer to that question, along with a lot of other “standard” hiring practices, don’t really establish anything worth knowing about the candidate or how they’ll perform at your company. Many of your methods are likely outdated. So leave them behind and instead adopt a strategy of data and analytics. The right analytics program can take the raw data about a potential hire and scan it for certain key factors that indicate they’d be a good match for your company. By crunching the numbers, it can provide you with not only the most qualified candidates, but the ones that would be the best fit for your company.
Use Assessment Tools
How do you get the raw data about a candidate? You use an online assessment tool. These tests determine a candidate’s aptitude in a number of different areas, from leadership skills to teamwork to problem solving and more. They can be customized to fit your company and programmed to find specific traits that will best complement your existing team.
Look for Passion
Computer software and test results can’t tell you everything you need to know about a candidate. You still need to interview them one on one to determine who will be the best fit for your company. But perhaps try a different tack when talking to them. You’ve already determined their skills and aptitudes. It’s clear they’re capable of doing the job. So what you want to determine is, what are they passionate about? Will they find something in this job to motivate them every day and spur them towards greatness? Or will it just be about trading 8 hours of their day for a paycheck? Find someone who really cares about the work you do, and you’ll find a candidate who will not just excel, but stick with you for the long haul.
Look for Unique Individuals
What does your ideal candidate look like? Well, if you’re like a lot of executives, they basically look a lot like you when you were at that stage of life. Or they look exactly like the previous person who filled that position. That attitude turns all of your employees into cogs in a machine. One leaves, so you find a carbon copy, fit them into the hole that was left, and it’s business as usual. That’s not how business works—or life, for that matter. Choose the people you hire based on their own merits and personalities, not just on the qualities that have worked for you in the past. Yes, that means the dynamic of your workforce will change. But if you make the right hire, it will change for the better.
These are just a few of the hiring practices you should look at when trying to find top performers for your company. It’s not an easy process, and it can take some time, but with the right tools and the right attitude, you can fill your company with people who really want to make a difference, and can remain with you for years to come.
