Savior Guide for HR: How to Find the Employee You Need

At this point, the number of candidates for a single job position can reach hundreds, even for the smaller companies. HR managers no longer have it easy – hiring people for their talent has become too vague of an approach to result in a good decision.

How you select your employees will depend on your business’ necessities and your skills as an HR manager. But, what I’ve learned throughout the years is that, the best employees are those you hire for their skills, not their talents.

Stephen Newton, HR manager at AssignmentGeek.com.au

Talent is important, but it does not really show you how capable a person is. Skills are learned and built on throughout the years, leading to the development of our inner talents. So, as an employer, your first goal is to seek such skills.

Also read: Your Guide To Employee Experience Mapping

Below is a detailed list of things every HR manager should know in the search of the perfect employee in today’s modern world.

Write Clear and Skill-Based Job Postings

Remember the job descriptions you came across when you were looking for a job? These were excellent at that time, but it is time to forget about them now. The traditional descriptions focused on proxies instead of skills, such as degrees, knowledge of specific programs and tools, and years of experience in the same or similar job position.

These proxies can help you select a candidate, but are they a complete picture of the skills a person possesses? As you can see, more and more employers select recent graduates to fill the positions at their companies, and these candidates don’t have half of those proxies for their skills to show.

Why does this happen?

Because when it comes to hiring the best person for the job, the proxies aren’t the sure indicative of a person’s capabilities. Instead of focusing your job postings and interviews on the proxies, focus more on the skills.

Don’t Procrastinate

The time when candidates waited and waited for the employer to check their resume is long gone. With new job opportunities around every corner, you cannot afford to procrastinate once you publish your job posting.

Sure, you need to take the time to select the perfect candidate, but still have to act as quickly as possible. The job market may not be perfect, but great candidates will always be in high demand.

If you take too much time to make a decision, almost quarter of your candidates will reject your offer afterwards. Promising candidates need to be approached before they find another job opportunity, because if they are as good as you think, others will think that, too.

The difference between you and the other HR manager will be that he/she was more decisive than you were.

Have Reasonable Expectations

One of the reason why HR managers procrastinate and ‘lose’ the good candidates are their unreasonable expectations. Whenever you meet a person who is great for the job, you keep waiting for the ‘perfect’ candidate.

Great candidates are those with the potential to turn into perfect employees for your company. Stop looking for the perfect candidate to start with. What you need is to lower your expectations to more reasonable ones, and turn a great candidate into the perfect employee.

Search for a Good Fit

Some candidates will be a great choice for a job, but not the job you are offering. When looking for the perfect candidate, do not look for the perfect employee in a general sense. You will need an employee who possesses the exact skills you need to have the job done.

Also read: Shape Company Culture Before It’s Too Late: 4 Hiring Strategies for the Best Fits

If you do not want to miss out on a highly skilled candidate who does not really fit your specific job description, hire them for a more fitting position at your company. If you don’t have such a position available, let them go. Hiring a skilled person is not the same as hiring a good fit. On the opposite, if you do not select a good fit, this may reflect poorly on your company and the other employees.

Seek Candidates with Integrity and Good Work Ethic

Surely, you can never be certain of the work ethic of a candidate with little work experience, or their integrity only by looking at their application. The time to establish if a person has high integrity is during the interview. This is why it is essential to work on your body language knowledge, as well as the interview questions that help you detect a dishonest and unethical candidate.

Offer Fair Pay

Many employers complain that the number of candidates who applied for the job was too little, or that there weren’t many skilled candidates who sent out their applications. In most such cases, the fault is in the employer.

If you do not offer a solid, fair pay for the job in question, how do you expect to get great candidates for the job? Unrealistic salary expectations can ruin your shot at getting a promising employee on board, and may even get you a bad reputation on the hiring market.

To get the qualified candidate you need, offer a competitive pay and a compensation package. Put yourself in your imagined ‘perfect’ candidate’s shoes and think: ‘What salary would I accept with my skills and expertise?’

Motivate with Good Conditions

In addition to fair pay, employees should be motivated to apply to your job posting. Your job posting and offer should have something that will drive the candidates to become interested in the specific position offered.

Motivation goes a long way. If you manage to find the right way to motivate the candidates with the conditions you offer, they will also be more willing to perform beyond the job description.

The key to a successful business is hiring good employees – people who have the skills and initiative to become loyal workers. Pay attention to these 7 tips to identify the best candidate for the job.