Figures from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show that bad hiring decisions cost companies about $15,000 per employee. So when you add in the indirect costs such as turnover and replacement, hiring mistakes can run a company well over $30,000.
The question is what steps should you take to improve your hiring process?
Hiring isn’t an exact science, which makes it hard for employers to avoid all errors. However, there are simple ways that you can reduce your chances of making a costly mistake:
1) Post additional job openings
Job listings get stale quickly and potential applicants may become disinterested if they don’t see something up-to-date enough to apply for. You’ll also want to vary the wording of your listings over time with updated job descriptions.
2) Streamline recruitment by implementing HR software
HR software can help employers to manage and monitor the hiring process, by tracking roles, applications, and candidate progress. It can also help with hired candidates, in terms of onboarding and standard HR practices once the employee is a full time member of the team.
3) Conduct background checks on applicants before extending them an offer
It’s better to know now rather than later about an employee’s criminal history since doing so could save you from a lawsuit later. In addition, conducting background checks can give you an idea about how trustworthy a given candidate is and pay attention to any red flags that may arise.
4) Use structured interview questions
When it comes to interviewing, hiring managers often forget that they’re trying to make a decision based on a set of data points, not individual anecdotes. A structured interview means asking the same questions to every applicant in order to achieve consistent analysis for each candidate’s application. When developing your list of questions, aim for those that help uncover past job experiences and core competencies as opposed to those that could be answered by intuition alone, because at the end of the day, your employees’ success will depend on their ability to perform their job.
5) Be flexible in the hiring process
If you’re not careful, your hiring process can become too rigid which can quickly shut out great candidates. For example, many companies won’t consider applicants that don’t meet all of their requirements or who require sponsorship in order to work in the United States; however, it’s often these people who possess exceptional skills and could be beneficial to your company later on down the line. As long as you’re able to follow-up on any red flags that may arise during background checks or interview sessions with separate interviews, make yourself open to meeting with applicants outside of your office building. There are plenty of other ways for employers to improve their hiring process, but these five steps will help set your company up for success in the long run.
