Five tips to avoid hiring mistakes

Negligent hiring is something that happens time and time again. If you were to make a hiring mistake, it could cost you in more than in just a financial sense and you could feel the effects for years to come. “As people and professionals, we tend to spend more time researching which cellphone to buy or which software will help grow our business than assessing a much more important concept — human behavior and talent,” said Paul Eccher, co-founder and principal of talent management organization The Vaya Group. “However, people are a company’s greatest asset and by making sound recruitment decisions, executives can drive productivity and strengthen talent.”

With that in mind, here are five tips to avoid making hiring mistakes: Listen During the interview, you probably do more talking than listening. Listen to what the applicants have to say – their history, their likes, dislikes, attributes and personality. You will be spending a lot of time with this person, so ensure they are the right fit. Criminal Background Checks One of the key areas of an applicant’s history you need to examine is whether they have a criminal past. This can provide you with an important insight into how trustworthy they are and whether they will be able to contribute positively to your company. Reference Checks You should perform reference checks in two ways – personal references and professional references. It’s easy to be lazy, claim to have to much work to do or try to trust your gut instinct. But, ultimately, a mistake here can cost you significantly down the line. So take the time to do it right. Employment Verification It is important for any company to determine whether the information an applicant provides during the application process is genuine by instituting a solid employment verification process. This means verifying their previous employment claims, such as positions, timeline, successes and so on. Applicants like to embellish their work history, so this is a key area in which to decipher which applicants are being honest and which are lying. Drug Testing Drug testing in the workplace should be a priority for any employer. You might think it’s an unnecessary expense, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. The money you save by not performing tests could be minimal compared to what you spend in liable cases should something go wrong. Overall – it’s impossible to ensure that you never make a hiring mistake, but by following these steps you can make sure that the possibility of one is small. If you have any further questions about hiring decisions, get in touch today.  ]]>