The hiring process is almost always long and exhausting. After going through countless resumes and several interviews, how can you be sure you’re hiring the right person?
While there’s a lot to be said for trusting your gut, in this day and age it’s easy to vet any candidate before you make an offer.
1. Research the candidate’s professional background. With so many people participating on social and professional networking sites, you can discover a wealth of information about potential candidates. Professional networking sites can tell you whether the candidate is seriously looking for a new job or whether he is just testing the waters, and they can give you an idea of the types of duties the candidate performed at his previous job, which you can compare to what the candidate listed on his resume and employment application.
Be careful when using social networking sites, however. While they can reveal important personality traits like whether the person has a poor work ethic or lousy attitude toward his managers, you need to be careful not make hiring decisions based on personal information such as race, gender, veteran status or even the people listed as friends.
2. Perform your own assessment. Always test a candidate’s functional skills before making a job offer. If a resume says that person possesses proficiency with certain software applications, create a project that she can fulfill using those applications at the level of skill you need. If you’re hiring a writer, ask her to produce a new writing sample, to see if it matches those she’s already provided.
3. Verify previous employment. Yes, it’s time-consuming, but it’s important to call each company listed on the application or candidate’s resume to verify employment dates. You should also try to speak to a candidate’s former supervisors for a closer look into the candidate’s background and personality. You may also want to verify salary, to ensure that the candidate’s salary history is consistent with what he has told you or to help your company determine whether there is a significant difference between the candidate’s previous earnings and the salary your company is going to offer.
Does this sound like more trouble than it’s worth? Do you feel you don’t have the time? Try working with an established recruiting firm like Synerfac. When you hire one of our candidates, you’ll know we’ve done all of the background checking and testing you need—we pride ourselves on providing great employees!