The hiring process is expensive. Small businesses, in particular, need to avoid costly hiring mistakes.
However, hiring right the first time is not guaranteed, especially when the pressure is on to get a role filled.
Hiring managers may feel the pressure from upper management to hire in a hurry. Why? In small businesses losing an employee can result in coworkers needing to take up the slack and cover the vacant role.
Coworkers may burn out, which may result in more job vacancies at the business. It’s times like these that hiring mistakes are made – let’s look at what your business can do to engage right the first time!
How To Avoid Hiring Mistakes
According to the US Department of Labor, making bad hiring decisions may be as costly as 30% of an employee’s annual salary. That’s a whopping $24,000 in total expenses lost for a position offering a salary of $80,000. Take time to avoid these common hiring mistakes and get your fit first.
Lagging with digital transformation
Competitive businesses are fully immersed in new tech adoption, attracting top employees. For your business to be attractive to job applicants, keep up with technology in all areas, so your employees are also part of the technology revolution.
Use Cloud-based software-as-a-service to work in with your cash flow constraints. Your commitment to new tech may be why an applicant chooses a role with your business.
What is your company culture?
Today company culture must align with employees’ value systems including:
- Work-life balance
- Diversity, equality and inclusion
- Company mission and value statement
Hiring mistakes happen when the business forgets to present its values and purpose. What does the business represent and how does it represent fairness, inclusiveness and compassion?
Job applicants weigh up what’s on offer so make sure your business has a holistic approach to its hiring including:
- Salary package – wage, bonuses, insurance etc)
- Personal development – training, education, industry qualifications
- Workplace benefits – breakout room, healthy refreshments, car park etc)
- Community work – charity days, fundraising events)
Plus, employees seek a company culture that values work-life balance so they can spend time with family and friends.
Technology adoption is important however businesses need to ensure their company culture does not promote the ‘always online’ mentality.
Employees may get their business email forwarded to their phones. However, they shouldn’t need to respond to emails, mobile messages, or chat requests outside their standard work hours.
Missing stages of the interview process
To avoid hiring mistakes, ensure all stages of the recruitment process are completed. Even if you’re in a hurry to get the role filled, skipping a step in the hiring process may result in the wrong person being hired.
Covering letter
Every resume should have a covering letter – has it been personalized to the role and your business, or is it generic? You will work out how interested the applicant is in their covering letter.
Pre-interview video calls
When you’re inundated with applicant resumes – take an extra step and conduct pre-interviews via a phone call or video chat. How applicants present verbally and visually will assist you with the short list of applicants for the round of interviews.
The pre-interview can also reveal why some applicants have left out important information about the role and your business. For example, your company values charity and community work, and applicants may do it but not include their efforts in their resume.
Job descriptions too specific
Take a close look at the job advertisement if it appears that your company is consistently hiring for the same position. Every time you rewrite it, broaden the scope to draw in more applicants.
Use more platforms to post job openings.
Maintain your job postings on the same websites, and guess what? The same candidates repeatedly submit applications. Expand your search area to attract more candidates. Opening doors to more people is always beneficial since it can help you diversify your workforce by including people with various backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
For instance, job seekers today hardly ever peruse the classified sections of their local newspapers. Since everyone is online, your job openings have to be as well. Include a list of all available positions on your website:
- Business website
- Email bulletins
- On social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc)
Additionally, your job postings need to be placed on the websites of recruiting agencies and job boards where candidates look for new jobs. Recruitment agencies also maintain big applicant databases.
Lack of details in job descriptions
Managers may forget to provide “all” jobs and responsibilities when employing new employees. There are certain undesirable jobs in every profession. Transparency is necessary, though, if you want to hire the correct individual the first time.
As a result, always include in the job description what the company expects the hired person to do. This way, you can evaluate the applicant’s response during the interview process.
Choosing the right person for the wrong job
Hiring the perfect individual for your company but putting them in the incorrect position or function is another frequent error you can make. Create a role for them and gain approval if your company recognizes someone they should work with but don’t already have one. Alternately, inform the candidate that your company will need them in the future and maintain contact with them in the interim.
Avoid fitting a square peg into a round hole; doing so will damage your company’s reputation among the proper applicant. Let them go but keep in touch so you can reach out to them when the ideal position becomes available.
Not quickly enough recruiting
Another error you can make is keeping the wrong candidate for too long. Some employers might continue using underqualified workers out of loyalty. By being careless, others might keep them.
The biggest excuse for why some firms continue to use unqualified workers is that they don’t have enough time to terminate them and replace them with qualified candidates. Someone not a good fit for your company needs to be replaced immediately.
Conclusion
Work the recruiting process all the way through to avoid hiring errors. A costly hiring mistake for your company will likely result from skipping procedures or omitting details regarding the position.
With technology, a solid company culture, and thoughtful hiring packages beyond salaries, you can keep your company relevant to employees.
