Mistakes to Avoid as a Hiring Manager
Posted August 22nd, 2014
As a hiring manager, you serve a crucial function within your company. It is your responsibility to build a dynamic, sustainable, and cost-effective workforce, and if you fail to do so, there can be severe consequences. Hiring the wrong person can cause projects to be delayed, diminish employee morale, and expose your company to expensive severance costs. That’s why it’s so important that you avoid these common but costly mistakes.
Rush the Process
A sense or urgency always accompanies the recruitment process, but if you move too quickly to hire someone, you often neglect due diligence. Make sure that you spend the time necessary to build a broad candidate pool and give each recruit a careful vetting.
Ignore Company Culture
You aren’t just hiring someone to fill a specific role, you are hiring someone that will be present in the office everyday, serve as a public representative of your company, and work collaboratively with their coworkers. Make sure that anyone you select doesn’t just have the skills and experience you require, but is also a good fit for your company culture.
Overcomplicate the Application Process
It is unreasonable to expect candidates to spend hours completing application documents, sit through multiple rounds of interviews, and subject themselves to invasive personal evaluations. Ultimately, an overcomplicated application process just discourages qualified candidates from applying in the first place. It also places extra stress on your time and resources.
Dismiss the Benefits of Automation
Technology has done a lot to streamline and optimize the recruitment process. If you are spending hours trying to manage your candidate pool or send out follow up communications, you could rely on simple technologies to do the work for you. That gives you more time to put your core skills to work.
Ask for Too Much
Some job postings are so lengthy and ambitious that it seems impossible for any employee to meet all the listed requirements. Make sure that you prioritize the skills your applicants must have and avoid asking for too much. It doesn’t help anyone to define a perfect candidate who is also nonexistent.
Fail to Verify Claims
In your rush to hire someone, it is easy to take an applicant’s word that he has the skills and experience stated on his resume. But if you don’t make the effort to verify those claims, you could be hiring someone that is woefully under qualified. Make sure to ask for letters of recommendation, transcripts, contact information for past employers, and other hard forms of verification.
You have a big job and an important responsibility. Don’t commit mistakes that make things harder than they have to be. For more tips about effective recruiting, work with the staffing experts at Bayside Solutions and find the best science and clinical talent in the Bay Area.
