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Talent Search: You’ve Found the Best Candidate . . . or Have You?

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You’ve discovered someone who has a résumé that meets all the criteria in your job ad and has proven to be quite likable during interviews. Offer a job pronto, right? This is the best candidate. Not so fast.

You might be overlooking an even better candidatea “hidden gem” who could be a game-changer at your workplace if given the chance. Here’s why your “perfect” candidate might not be so ideal and why your company could benefit from digging a little deeper into the applicant pool.

How to Dig Deeper and Find the Best Candidate

Look at Credentials

Employers oftentimes favor applicants who have followed a specific, traditional career path. Lacking a degree (or receiving one from the “wrong” place) or failing to present the “proper” progression through industry roles can immediately get a candidate discarded.

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Doing so, however, can deprive your company of valuable talent. Some people could possess outstanding transferable skills from alternate industries. Others might demonstrate particular leadership from their own entrepreneurial ventures. Finances or familial obligations might have prohibited some applicants from pursuing a full-time college experience, but their work ethic and desire to learn despite challenges might make them exceptional employees.

“In my opinion, the whole way that we go about hiring is broken,” says Steve Benson, CEO of Badger Maps. “To make great hires, you need to focus on the right performance indicators. You need to think about what skill sets someone needs to perform and what characteristics make someone a good fit. That is way more important than a lot of the things that we often screen for when we are hiring—like pedigree and experience.”

Aim for Diversity

Employers often emphasize the need for new hires to be a good “fit” for their workplace’s culture. Be certain, though, that an effort to find individuals who can get along with existing team members and contribute to the mission of the company doesn’t turn into hiring virtually the same person over and over again.

A staff gains depth and creativity with input from different cultural, socio-economic, gender, and generational perspectives.

Assess Skills Upfront 

Want to even the playing field so that all prospective employees have a chance to demonstrate their abilities? Consider making assessments for workplace skills a part of the recruitment process. These tests ask candidates to perform aspects of the actual job they wish to hold, such as editing a document or writing code.

Matt Cholerton, human resources leader and founder of Hito Labs, likes putting a “filtering question” in job postings to discover candidates he might otherwise miss. “For an office manager role, I might ask, ‘We’re having a holiday dinner and need your help in planning. Where should we go and why?’ The candidates that really want my role, as opposed to those that are just applying everywhere, carefully read the post and are sure to answer the question. This allows me to focus on a much smaller group of applicants. Additionally, responses reveal a great deal. Do applicants just give a name of the closest restaurant, or do they reveal a process such as gathering dietary restrictions, asking about budget, and offering different options?”

While it may take a bit more time on their part and yours, such challenges will help cream rise to the surface. And you’ll have proof that the person you select has skills that shine on more than paper.

Looking to dive deeper into the candidate pool? Browse resumes and professional candidates in 55 categories.

Employers, what tips do you use for finding the best candidate? Please share below.

Photo credit: bigstockphoto.com 

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