BY C. Lee Smith
Biases of all kinds surface during the hiring process and sometimes result in the wrong person joining an organization. A hiring manager may be set on a top candidate because they were referred by a friend. They may also like a candidate because they seem similar in style, appearance and philosophy to a well-liked departing employee.
Is Your Top Candidate Who You Think They Are?
To reduce the error rate in hiring, more organizations are turning to tech-based tools. Best-in-class companies now rely on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to streamline their hiring process. With these tools, companies save time and money when writing and posting job descriptions.
In addition, hiring managers can personalize communications with candidates more efficiently when they use AI.
The most valuable tech-based tool in your hiring process may be psychometric assessments. These platforms allow you to learn details about candidates that may not show up on their application or resume.
Using Technology to Understand Your Candidates
Writing a job description and attracting a top candidate is only the first step in hiring. In this step, you may list the specific skills needed to succeed at the job. This focus marks a shift from when hiring emphasized college degrees or years of experience.
Of course, candidates might stretch the truth about their skills. But you can easily test for technical skills by asking them to complete a project.
Once a candidate’s technical skills have been vetted, you need insight into other aspects of their work behavior.
Knowing how they will interact with other members of your team and with your customers is mandatory. It’s also important to understand what motivates them. Some employees crave financial reward while others want the opportunity to manage their own project.
Psychometric assessments give you additional perspective about your top candidate. The best time to ask applicants to take assessments is before the interview. Why?
The results may tell you something about the person that they haven’t listed on their resume.
In fact, your top candidate may not have thought about what motivates them. But once you have the assessment results, you can ask questions during the interview.
Soft Skills and Hiring
LinkedIn urges hiring managers to consider multiple aspects of the quality of a hire. These aspects have as much to do with the candidate’s abilities as they have to do with fit and culture.
During the interview process, it’s key that you use assessment data to measure the candidate’s fit. The fit includes how they align with the job, the company, the team, and the potential supervisor.
At the same time, you want to hire an employee who can think independently and make good decisions. Asking the right kinds of questions can expand your insight into the applicant's soft skills.
Personalizing the Work Experience
One of the most contentious issues in 2024 centers around work location. The COVID-19 pandemic opened Pandora’s box. Employees in many professionals proved they could do their jobs from a remote location.
But job performance is only one factor to consider when it comes to work location. If your top candidate is demanding to always work from a remote location, proceed carefully.
Granting this request could raise issues of fairness. What percentage of team members are currently working from another location?
Allowing a new hire to set their own work location or hours could impact company culture. It can be challenging to unite a team and drive engagement when some employees work offsite.
You will need to develop activities to strengthen team cohesion if your employees never meet in person. It can also be challenging for a new employee to join an existing business. Furthermore, businesses that have not had any turnover in years can be further isolating, especially if employees are working remote.
Getting to know your top candidate can help you reduce hiring errors. Using tech-based tools such as GenAI allows hiring managers to work more efficiently. And the results of psychometric assessments reveal details that managers otherwise wouldn’t know.
But managers will still need to assess fit when deciding who to hire. They should consider special requests from the top candidate. However, also ponder the context of how their special requests will impact the rest of the team.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.