You’ve narrowed your employee search down to some amazing top contenders. How can you make sure the one you select really is the best?
Finding the best fit for your company is already a tough task to tackle, but when it comes down to the final selection, it can be frustrating to make sure your decision is the right one. Picking the true winner out of a group of outstanding candidates is no easy feat, but it can be done.
So, how should you go about selecting your top candidate? There are many different variables to factor in, all depending on your companies wants, needs and preferences. Where do you start?
Let’s talk about some of the best ways to spot your star candidate from a league of highly experienced, amazing professionals. With these tips, you’ll feel more confident in your job candidate search that you’re making the right decision when bringing a new employee on board.
Look for a culture fit
If you want a candidate that will be a great addition to your team, look at how their personality will fit with your company culture. If you can bring someone on that will enhance your culture and add something new, you should always consider doing so.
What do we mean by this? Well, you want to bring someone in that not only make an experienced addition to your team, but also brings something new to the table. Having a vast amount of diversity can keep ideas flowing and bring perspectives from all walks of life into your company tasks and projects.
Look for someone that can bring a positive cultural impact to your company in order to better grow your own cultural values and diversity.
Try to picture a future with your candidate
Can you see a future with the job candidate you’re about to choose? One that really inspires growth and prosperity for your company? If you can’t visualize your top choice at your company a month, a quarter, or years down the road, they may not be the right fit for you.
Visualization is a great way to get an accurate answer about how you feel towards a candidate. If you can take the traits that have been presented to you by each candidate and project how those traits could develop over time in your company, you could gain insight into how candidates align with your future goals.
Using visualization with real data and interview experience can show you which candidates you genuinely want to invest time in, and maybe even which candidate makes the most sense to hire.
Test your candidates
If you’re hiring for a position that requires a specific skill or very important problem solving experience, you may want to give each candidate a test problem to solve and see how they perform.
Using tests as part of the interview process is great practice for jobs in tech and analytics, but can be adapted to practically any industry. Giving candidates a false scenario and seeing where their expertise takes them can give you a better idea of who fits well within your company’s team.
Let’s take marketing, for example. Consider giving your candidates a brand or product to market to a target audience. You can provide audience demographics, or test them on their research skills to build one on their own. Tasks such as a campaign design, a sampling of social media posts, or a marketing schedule are a few examples for your testing. Each person will have their own method, so select the one that you prefer.
Testing your candidates puts their resumes to work and brings out the best in top candidates to help you select your perfect match.
Look at bonus qualities
Are you stuck between two candidates with very similar resumes and job experience? You can break the tie by comparing and contrasting the unique qualities that make each candidate stand out.
There are so many valuable assets that cannot be measured on a job application or resume. Think about all of the nuances and quirks that candidates brought to the table at interviews. How were their communication skills? Did they show up on time? Did they go out of their way to be respectful or helpful to others? Are they imaginative?
Adding up those bonus traits can help you choose between two equally qualified candidates and give you a sense of who will be the best fit.
Don’t let an overwhelming amount of talent within your candidate pool stop you from finding the best person for the job. Use our tips to cut through the crowd and find the employee you want on your team.