Are you Wasting Time with the Wrong Candidates?

When asked, hiring managers often will admit their biggest time waster is the wrong candidate.  With competition so fierce in the job market today, hiring managers often find themselves spending countless hours, chasing after candidates, only to discover they are wrong for the job.  Are you wasting time with the wrong candidate?

Most likely, you answered yes to that question, but what can you do about it.  Consider adopting these techniques in your hiring process:

• Learning to focus your attention on the high probability candidate is often the best way to save time in your hiring process.  People who are advancing within their current job, typically take too much time to “woo,” and those that are beating down your door, are typically underperformers.  When you can identify these candidates, you can then focus your attention on the perfect candidate.  The one who is reasonable, a great performer, and will consider another position when asked.  
• Prequalifying candidates can save valuable time.  There are many ways in which you can accomplish this – assessment tests, pre-interview questions, and social media and reference checks.  When you complete the prequalification every time, you will suddenly find yourself spending time with the candidates that will be a fit, instead of wasting valuable time with those that are no fit.
• Track your resources used to attract candidates.  This is important, as it will help you determine which resources are most productive and successful.  This will allow you to devote your time and budget to the most appropriate areas.
• Similar to tracking your resources, develop ways to measure your hires.  Measuring the quality of your hire, will help you again determine which methods you have used work best.  Performance appraisals are often useful in seeing which candidates are producing the best results.

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By following these techniques, you will find less time wasted with the wrong candidate.  This will leave you more time to devote to candidates that are right for the job and your company.