HireHive Team
HireHive
According to a recent Forbes report, approximately 118 people will apply for any given job posting. Of those, roughly 22% will be invited for an interview. Before they’ve even met with any candidates, employers have to start making difficult decisions about who would be the best fit for their company. And they often have to do this based on very little information overall.
HireHive Team
HireHive
In fact, hiring just one person takes as long as 100 person-hours, and a lot of that time is spent deciding between applicants. Luckily, things do get a little easier once you’ve spoken to your applicants in person, rather than just considering them on paper. But, with many quality applicants applying for the same role, it can still be difficult to decide which ones to take forward.
In the early stages of recruitment, you might consider things like previous experience and specific qualifications to narrow down suitable applicants. But, what happens if you’re nearing the end of your recruitment process and you’re still struggling to distinguish between two (or more) outstanding candidates?
There’s a lot of pressure in this decision, especially because one wrong choice could see you missing out on a candidate who could have transformed your company. But, you can’t employ everyone. So, how exactly do you choose between two candidates who wow you during their interviews?
On average, a recruitment drive can take around 42 days. During that time, you’ll read so many CVs and will spend so many hours in an interview room that you might forget what you needed in the first place.
This is especially true if you’ve fallen in love with great candidates who you may be imagining in all manner of future roles. But, remember – these people applied for a certain position. It’s only fair that you return to the specifics of that role when choosing between them. This way, you’ll be able to hold each client up against specific skill sets and preferences as outlined in your original posting.
73% of professionals have left a job because they disliked the company culture. Even if you love what a candidate offers, they might not merge well with your team. This can result in poor results and, more heartbreakingly, the overall loss of two great candidates.
With that in mind, it’s always worth considering factors like company culture when you’re having a hard time deciding between applicants. Real-life trials are an especially great way to see how a candidate’s skills and personality blend with the rest of the office. It may be that, while both applicants are strong, one feels like an undeniably better fit for your specific working conditions.
It’s generally best to conduct at least 2 or 3 interviews before settling on a candidate. And, by the third interview, it’s only natural that you may have forgotten the specifics of the first. This needn’t be an issue if one candidate is head and shoulders above everyone else. But when you’re having trouble choosing, you’ll want to refresh yourself on everything a candidate has brought to the table so far.
At this stage, it’s especially worth going back across a candidate’s entire employment profile and considering key elements such as –
As you look at all of these things, really think about anything that differentiates one candidate from the other. After all, no two candidates are the same. Even if both applicants have experience with relevant companies, for example, one may have worked more closely on projects that resemble what you do in your business. Equally, one may have a slightly more extensive knowledge of the computer programs you use in the office.
It all counts, and it can all help you to make the right choice overall.
If you’re really struggling to choose between candidates, tie-breaker questions can be useful for forging more direct comparisons. Often, these won’t be the job-specific questions that you’ve asked in previous interview stages. Rather, tie-breaker questions aim to delve into an individual’s unique outlook and intentions and may include things like –
These are often unexpected questions, which get candidates thinking on their feet. And, when each applicant is caught off guard in that way, you’ll get a far more realistic glimpse of what they really stand to offer.
Employment drives will typically see you fulfilling a very real need in your company right now. But a ‘good’ hire will be someone with the power to transform your company way into the future.
Thinking about this during employment can be a standout way to decide between candidates. After all, even a great candidate won’t offer a huge amount of value if they’re willing to slot right in without bringing anything new. Equally, a candidate who’s too driven will provide limited benefits to your company overall when they quickly move on. Instead, your ideal candidate will likely be someone innovative enough to change things, but loyal enough to stick around.
That kind of candidate is rare, so it’s unlikely that both of your prospective hires fit that profile. But working out which of your options comes closest could be the thing to separate them at last.
Choosing between two or more great candidates can be a time-consuming and tough process. By simplifying employment at every stage, HireHive makes it far easier for you to offer job roles to the right people. All for far fewer hours than you’d need to spend if you were doing things manually.
By using HireHive, you can revolutionize your entire recruitment process with quality applicants in mind. As well as simplifying how easily you can post a role that’s visible to the right people, HireHive ensures that you can assess and compare candidates at the click of a button.
Try it for free today to see how much help HireHive could help you with even the toughest recruitment choices moving forward. Set up your free demo today!
“HireHive makes the team a lot more productive. We’d be lost without it. Team Leaders can do it all themselves if needed or jump in at the right time and know exactly where everything is and what’s happening.”
Hilary Dempsey Head of HR at Life Credit union
