The recruiting process can be full of roadblocks, bumps, and workarounds that eventually lead you to a great hire. Getting through each step of the process involves a lot of work, but is there a way to smooth things out and ensure the process doesn’t take such a toll on your team?
Yes, there is a way and questions are the answers. Using a series of questions throughout each step of the recruiting process allows you to never miss a beat and consequently bring in the best candidate for an open position. The most important issue these questions address is the habit of making assumptions. It’s important to avoid making them to treat every candidate with respect and dignity. Where do you start and which questions yield the most conclusive answers?
Assess Need and Evaluate the Position
Your end result is directly influenced by the way you start the process. Coming up with a strategic recruiting plan based on your direct needs and current situation will only help you in the long run. In the beginning stage of recruiting some crucial questions to include:
Assessing Need:
- Is your current staff stretched too thin?
- Can the duties of the role be dispersed?
- Based on past and future market trends, is this the best time to fill the position? Is the role properly budgeted within the department?
- Is filling the position the best use of your resources?
Evaluate Position:
- Are there any changes that need to be made to the job role?
- How can you leverage a new hire to fill any gaps in the core skills of the team?
- Are there any upcoming changes to the team or department that will affect how this position should be filled?
- What was the demonstrated value of the position and how can this be improved?
Receiving the answers to these questions can help determine your next steps including where to source hires and what the job description should look like.
Candidate Fit
After assessing and evaluating the open position and creating a job description, you’ve likely received a number of applicants. After filtering out the applicants who may not be qualified based on the description considering past positions and work experiences, you have now have a stack of candidates. How do you get from candidate to job offer? It’s time for another round of questions. These questions help determine which candidate will be the best fit for the position and who would be the most productive in the environment provided at your particular
Some questions to ask include:
- Describe the management style that will bring forth your best work and efforts.
- What are the three to five expectations that you have of senior leaders in an organization where you will work successfully?
- What are the positive aspects of your current job and work environment, or the last position you held before coming to this interview?
- What is the single most important factor that must be present in your work environment for you to be successfully and happily employed? What were the 2 runner-ups?
- What is your preferred work style? Do you prefer working alone or as part of a team? What percentage of your time would you allocate to each, given a choice?
- When you work with a team, describe the role that you are most likely to play on the team.
Selecting the Right Candidate: Key Performance Indicators
You’re getting closer to making a hire, but now comes the time to do a little internal reflection using the answers from your candidate fit assessment. Evaluate the individuals who have come before them in this position, what made them succeed? Or what possibly made them fail? It’s also important to make sure you’re making a job offer because the candidate meets all the criteria and will be productive in that particular position, not just because they fit the culture.
Questions to ask yourself include:
- What do top performers in this position look like?
- What traits are shared by the best (and worst) people who’ve done this job?
- Do I want the new hire to match the current company culture or expand it?
- Am I overlooking any red flags because they fit the culture?
Thinking in terms of questions, you can even ask people “What have I forgotten to ask you?” This is less about avoiding complications and more about creating a process with fewer and fewer assumptions. This leads to open and honest communication, which leads to better process, which leads to a better experience for everyone, which leads to awesomeness in your recruiting process.
About the author: Chris Murdock is Senior Partner and Co-Founder at IQTalent Partners.
