Finding the right people: A Guide To Evaluating, Interviewing, and Selecting The Right Candidates

We know that finding the right candidate is one of the most important steps in the hiring process. Only with the right pool of candidates can we hire ideal employees, who can then bring out their best abilities to help the company grow. The candidates need to qualify for the position they’re applying for — not just in terms of their skills but also with their personality. Which is why many companies have spent considerable time addressing a very important question: how to hire the right person? 

In this guide, we’ll look into ways to assess, interview, and select applicants and also ensure that your teams are made of individuals who share your values. 

Follow the Due Process: Every Step Matters

An effective hiring process will help you locate the best candidates and eliminate those who are unfit for the job position. A recruiter needs to know how to assess their communication skills, emotional intelligence, technical skills, etc.

The first step is identifying the role’s requirements to effectively source and find the right person, while overcoming bias in recruitment, thereby attracting and retaining candidates from the diverse pool of talent. And then moving into the next step- creating the job description and posting them on various channels. 

A clearly defined unbiased job description helps job seekers to gauge their abilities against requirements and also makes them feel energized about what they do. Therefore, when creating a job description, ensure it’s unbiased, welcoming, and reflective of the candidates. After posting, selecting the candidates, and interviewing them, you will know which candidate makes the cut. 

Look Past the Resume

Hiring a candidate becomes more straightforward if a recruiter only examines the qualifications listed on a candidate’s resume when evaluating their candidacy. However, it’s critical to keep other factors in mind that a candidate can bring to the table, including innovative ideas and motivation. 

With the help of metrics like experience and skills, recruiters can evaluate if the candidate checks the necessary boxes to fit and perform at the workplace. Asking questions like– Are they competent in filling the role? Do they have any previous knowledge of the technology? Are they capable enough to pick up the position in the initial months? – helps in gauging the candidate. 

While making hiring decisions, motivation is omitted from the equation quite often, but recruiters underestimate its impact on the new hire’s performance. Find out what motivates each candidate by asking questions like–”What do you appreciate about your last job?” This will help you learn what drove them to work at the previous workplace, and this can be followed up with “What inspired you to apply for this job here?” 

These factors will help you discover the right candidate for your company.

Conduct a Pre-Screening Remote Interview

With the continuous battle of hiring the best talent, employers are closely examining their whole recruitment program, including the screening process, to make sure that there are no barriers to finding the best talent.

Going through hundreds of CVs, it is easy to miss great candidates or select those who are not the ideal fit, therefore, pre-screening becomes important here. Knowing the candidate before the actual interview, their cognitive abilities, personality, etc. So, A pre-screening interview lets you interact with candidates to learn more about them. 

When conducting a pre-screening, keep the following points in mind:

• Ensure the candidate has access to the necessary documentation so they may study it before the call. This includes specifics about the job, the pay scale, the benefits, and other information that would be important when assessing their application.
• Prepare a schedule in advance so you can discuss all the main points of interest throughout the conversation (e.g., experience level and gaps, fit for role). 
• Prepare behavioral questions that may aid in determining whether this candidate will succeed in your business.

Assess Key Skills: Technical Skills and Soft Skills

Employers typically have a strong understanding of the qualifications they seek in a new candidate.

When recruiting new team members, employers look for additional intangible traits – good communication skills, time management, empathy, attention to detail, etc. An employee who is a technical pro in their industry but lacks the interpersonal abilities to get along with others is probably not going to be as helpful to your business as someone who possesses those additional qualities. Therefore, both key skills assess how well-rounded a candidate is. So as a recruiter, you need to know how to evaluate soft and hard skills.

Assessing technical skills for a tech role is done in three steps: one is through an aptitude test and the next is a coding test and later interviewing the candidates. Whereas assessing non-technical roles can be done by assignments/ interviews to know how the candidates utilize the tools.

Assess Talent and Culture Fit

Finding the right candidate goes beyond the individual’s technical expertise and experience. It is essential to understand the candidate’s ability to function optimally in your work environment, solve issues and produce outcomes. Therefore, assess candidates’ personality traits (such as curiosity) and motivation (such as entrepreneurial spirit) based on their experience in their previous organizations. Some companies also use situation-based questions to see a candidate’s way of handling different situations.  

Another crucial factor in selecting people is cultural fit. Values, attitudes, and behaviors all play a role in cultural fit and have an impact on how well a person fits into your team and company.

Ensure a Transparent and Bias-Free Recruitment Process

A fair recruitment procedure evaluates candidates purely on their ability to perform the job, not on any subjective factors like ethnicity, color, sex, age, or religion. Consequently, every applicant has an equal chance to compete for the position during a fair and open recruiting process. ‍A fair recruitment procedure also guarantees adherence to all regional recruiting laws.

If you’re looking to ensure that your recruitment process is as transparent and bias-free as possible, there are several ways to do so.

First, use a structured interview process. This means that all interviews are conducted by the same person, in the same location, and with the same set of questions. This will help ensure that your employees aren’t being influenced by their own biases when it comes to interviewing candidates.

Second, if you’re using an online application system, avoid asking questions related to gender or sexual orientation. Instead, ask questions such as those related to education and experience levels instead of asking about hobbies or other non-work-related topics.

Finally, if you have a large number of applicants for any given position, consider using an algorithm or some other method of automating the selection process so that human bias isn’t introduced into what could otherwise be a fair process.

Emphasize on Reference and Background Checks

As part of the employment process, the majority of employers conduct reference checks. To verify important job and educational information and learn more about a candidate’s past experiences, and talents, reference checking entails getting in touch with the candidate’s former employers, supervisors, schools, and other relevant parties.

Therefore, ensure that you have the viewpoints of all references regarding the candidate, along with any problems that may have arisen while they were working for them. References are an excellent source of unbiased details about a candidate’s professional background, employment history, and work ethic.

Enhance Candidate Experience

First impressions matter! For a company to attract, hire, and keep top talent, candidate experience needs to be put under the scanner often and continuous improvements need to be made. Depending on the effectiveness of the interactions across the entire recruitment process, a candidate considers a potential company and determines whether they would want to be a part of the organization. Candidate experience covers all touchpoints of the hiring process, such as the job search, application, interview, and onboarding processes, and the hiring teams must ensure the entire process gives the candidates a clear picture of the company culture and sets them up for success

Below are a few ways to create a good candidate experience:

-Explain how to apply in simple terms.

-Describe the prerequisites for the position.

-Describe the interview procedure in detail.

-Ensure that the interviewees feel comfortable

-Provide unqualified candidates with feedback

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the importance of interviewing for skills, and not for resumes. Instead of simply hiring the most impressive-looking candidate, take the time to make sure that they will mesh well with your team. Technical skills are paramount, but so are soft skills like communication. The interview process takes time and planning, but it’s worth it in the end—if you take it seriously.