All companies could improve elements of their hiring process, and many worry about hiring the wrong candidate. It might be that only a small number of people are applying for the position you’ve offered, or it might be that so many are applying that it seems impossible to narrow them down. Although it’s usual to expect a candidate to be nervous for an interview, there’s a lot at stake for recruiters trying to tell if the candidate is right for the job, and it can cause the interviewer to feel some butterflies in their stomach too. Read on to find out what you can do to improve your hiring process so that you can identify the best candidate.

The Job Advert

If you’re getting either too little or too much attention for the position then you should be looking at ways to amend the job advert that you’ve put out. If there are too few applications then you’re either being too specific about what you want on the advert or else too few people are reading it. You should put on the advert as much detail as you can about what the day-to-day tasks will be, and you should include the level of experience or the qualifications that all candidates must have. However, if you make this too detailed then you’ll be limiting your options. However, if you don’t include the minimum experience or qualifications required then many applicants will try their luck. It’s up to you to find that balance, and to make sure you’re advertising the role effectively.

Reviewing CVs

It can be difficult reviewing the CVs that applicants have sent in for the position you’ve advertised for. Some candidates will seem to have all the experience you require but their CV might stand out for the wrong reasons, like being formatted incorrectly or unusually. Try these candidates out by giving them an interview, but remember, giving somebody the chance to interview doesn’t mean that you owe them the job. You need to have set objectives that need to be met. Depending on the role, if there are spelling mistakes and poor grammar, or the candidate has failed to send in an accompanying cover letter as requested, their application can immediately be discounted.

Interviewing Candidates

This can be difficult for a variety of reasons. It might be that the person sitting before you has a great education having achieved an online MACC from the Collat School of Business, they have experience at a relevant company and they look smart and presentable – but you need to know if their personality is a good fit to the rest of the team. You must trust your instincts for this aspect of the recruitment process.

Training Them Up

It isn’t just essential to find the right candidate. You need to train the best candidate into the right candidate. There is no such thing as the perfect applicant, but that doesn’t mean you should compromise. You need to think ahead about how they will fit in, and provide the support for them to continue to learn as they work.