Hiring new employees who are not only talented but interested in staying with the company for a period of time is important for any successful company. However, despite the importance of hiring talented employees, recruitment is often where some companies struggle to succeed.

Interviewing processes can feel like a chore to potential candidates and employers alike. Not only that, but recruitment can be an expensive process due to time spent on interviewing, onboarding, and training costs. In 2020 and 2021, companies spent more than 92 billion dollars on training alone. This emphasizes the importance of hiring successfully as each new hire who ends up being a poor fit and leaves the organization costs you a great deal of money.

Are you struggling to interview the right candidates? No need to worry! We compiled a few tips and tricks in this post to help you create a more productive hiring process.

Know What You’re Looking For in Ideal Candidates

Before hiring a new candidate, there’s one question you should ask: What would the ideal candidate for that role look like? Ask this question for each job opening, because every position will have different qualifications, and what you need in a new hire may vary as your business grows.

Other questions to ask include:

• What are the technical skills required for the position?
• What key competencies are essential for success?
• What are the preferred qualifications such as certifications, specific industry experience, or exposure?

Be sure to also factor in the position’s required level of experience. The ideal traits and skills will vary greatly for an entry-level position compared to intermediate or senior-level roles.

Consider Your Company Culture

Skills and experience are important, but so are your company’s values. If you value things like teamwork and collaboration, you’re going to want to find a candidate who is a cooperative team player rather than a lone wolf. Make sure that a candidate’s values align with your own before hiring them. An interview focused specifically on culture is a great way to determine if an individual’s values align with what is important to your organization.

Here are several interview questions to gain insight into a candidate’s values:

• Describe your ideal company culture.
• What role do you typically take in a team setting? Provide an example.
• How do you manage conflict with others?
• Tell us about your favorite supervisor, and why/how did you work successfully together?
• Which of our company values do you find yourself most/least aligned with? Why?

Promote Inclusivity in Your Branding

Speaking of values, inclusivity is very important to consider as a company value. Be sure to promote diversity and inclusion within your workplace and on your website. You can do this by adding a statement about diversity and inclusion and posting pictures of diverse teams collaborating and spending time with one another.

It’s also important to evaluate your job postings. Are you using inclusive language? Here are important things to consider when writing inclusive job postings:

• Are you using gender-neutral language?
• Is the job posting accessible for people with disabilities? For example, consider adding image descriptions to pictures, using clear language, using dyslexia-friendly fonts, and adding an audio transcript.
• Is your company website’s UX design clean and easy to navigate?
• Do you encourage candidates to apply even if they don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed?
• Do you include an inclusivity and non-discrimination statement about your company?

Marketing the Role

Now that you’ve determined what your ideal candidate looks like, you can advertise the role. You’ll want the job description, qualifications, and responsibilities to be very clear. When interviewing candidates, give them a sense of what an average “day in the life” of their role looks like. The clearer you are about what the position is, the more likely you’ll be able to find a good, long-term fit.

On websites like LinkedIn or Indeed, you can browse potential candidate profiles. When reaching out to candidates, be sure to introduce yourself and the company you work for. Let them know how you found their profile, and what stood out about it as well as the position that you’d like them to apply.

Find Your Ideal Candidate Using Cura HR

Developing an interview process that helps hire successfully takes time and effort. If you need help establishing or improving your talent acquisition strategy, Cura HR has the skills and experience you’re looking for.

We help companies build and nurture their greatest asset- their employees. Your people are your value center. Healthy, diverse, and productive work environments are conducive to attracting new talent and retaining existing team members. We’d love to learn about your business and how we can leverage best-in-class HR practices to help you attract and retain top talent.