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July 19, 2024
The recruitment process is all about identifying and hiring the very best candidate for the role. While the interview process might be time consuming and difficult, it is one of the best methods we have for finding and hiring the best candidates.
When presented with multiple strong candidates, it can be difficult to know which one is the right one to hire. Even those trained in recruitment processes might struggle to choose between multiple qualified candidates.
If you’ve been tasked with making the final hiring decision, read on to learn more about what it takes to find the ideal candidate and what questions you can ask yourself to make the final decision a little easier.
The process of making a final decision actually starts before you’ve even interviewed your first candidate. Before you start the interview process, create an interview matrix that includes all of the desirable traits that you would like to find in a candidate.
Doing this simple step will make it far easier to carry out a direct comparison between the candidates. It can also help to guide the questions you need to ask each candidate. By keeping the interview process uniform, you’ll find it easier to make comparisons and find the perfect candidate.
It’s important not to hire based on “gut feeling” or “good vibes”, as this will often come down to your own biases. When faced with a difficult decision, we will often look for similarities between ourselves and the candidates. This can allow you to make a decision based on bias and will ultimately lead to a less diverse workforce.
Instead, you need to be making a decision based on facts and information, not feelings. The best way to achieve this is through effective interview technique and proper reflection following the interview.
Remember that the time of the day when you meet the candidate could influence how you feel about them. For example, the candidate you meet first thing in the morning is more likely to leave a better impression than the one you meet right after lunch. This is one reason that multiple meetings can be so effective.
Once you have completed the preliminary interviews and you have narrowed the decision down to two or three candidates, you can start to ask yourself important questions about the candidates and this should hopefully help to reveal the best fit for your organisation.
The first question to ask yourself relates to how the candidate presented themselves on paper and then during the interview. Some candidates undersell themselves, so the interview process is incredibly rewarding as you discover lots of helpful information about them and their abilities.
Other candidates oversell their abilities and you might find them backtracking during the interview process. Ask yourself how well their CV matched what they told you in the interview and if this is a problem for you.
Even underselling yourself can be a bit of a red flag, as it could mean that you are overqualified for the role or that you lack confidence and ambition. In an ideal world, candidates will accurately represent themselves on paper and this will match how they present themselves during the interview.
Make a list of any doubts you might have about each candidate. Ideally, you would address these during the interview, but there might still be some outstanding doubts about their ability or motivation.
Remember that it is far better to hire someone with room to develop rather than hiring someone overqualified for the role and asking them to adapt or change their working habits.
Ask yourself if the doubts are something that could stand in the way of them doing the job, or if they are just differences in personality or approach. The former could be problematic, but the latter are just a sign of your biases.
One way to identify if the candidate is one that will stick around for the long haul or if they are just using this opportunity as a stepping stone to further their career. If you are hoping to invest in training and development for the candidate, you want to know that they plan to stick around for as long as the opportunity is engaging and valuable for them.
Ask yourself if you got an impression of their career plans and aspirations during the interview. If they have expressed an interest in growing with your company and making the most of training opportunities, this could be a very good sign.
You can also look at their career history to better understand how they approach new opportunities. Lots of short stints with different companies could indicate a restless approach that doesn’t bode well. However, if every career change comes with a promotion and a more senior job title, this could indicate incredible ambition that hasn’t been nurtured by any company in the past.
If you are still struggling to decide between two candidates, you could invite them back for an additional interview that includes a practical test. This will allow you to put them in a real life situation to see how they respond. If you’re on the fence between two candidates, you can let the quality of their work speak for itself.
You can feel pretty confident that both candidates will be suited to the role, but if you’re struggling to make a final decision, the steps outlined in this guide can help.
If both candidates are very strong and you don’t want to let either of them go to your competitors, you could also consider if your hiring budget could stretch to both of them. If either candidate doesn’t work out, you can let them go at the end of the probationary period. And if both candidates prove to be good hires, you will have boosted your workforce for the better.
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