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Warning Signs Your Top Candidate Isn’t All They Say They Are

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Like many employers, you may be having difficulty hiring the best talent. As a result, you might feel inclined to hire your top candidate after reading their resume and scheduling an interview. However, you need to take the time to make sure the candidate is exactly as good as they say they are. Although they may seem like a great match on the surface, you need to uncover additional information to validate their claims.

Discover some steps you can take to determine whether your best candidate truly is the right one to add to your team.

Not Sharing Specific Contributions

Your top candidate should give concrete examples of their individual contributions and those of their team members to complete projects. You need this type of information to learn more about the candidate’s role in a project and how it fits with the team dynamics.

The candidate also should talk about other details relating to their current job or the job they want. Otherwise, they may lack the skills and qualifications needed to complete the work. Think twice about hiring this candidate.

Hesitation to Provide Work Samples

Your top candidate should be happy to show you examples of what they accomplished in previous roles. This demonstrates the value they can provide for your own organization.

If the candidate hesitates to participate in a technical interview, it may be because they lack the core skills necessary to carry out the job responsibilities. The candidate may not want to admit that they cannot complete a skills test within the allotted time. This likely is not the right candidate to hire.

Lack of Interest in Learning

Your top candidate should be eager to participate in ongoing learning and development opportunities. This lets them develop new skills and qualify for additional opportunities for career advancement.

A candidate who believes they already know all that they need to likely will be stagnant in a role. Disinterest in improving their abilities means a lack of growth for your organization. This is not a candidate you want to add to your team.

Not Asking Questions

Your top candidate should be asking questions throughout the interview. This shows they are engaged in the conversation and curious to know more about the position and company.  The more information the candidate receives, the better they can determine whether the job is a good match for them.

Not asking questions signals disinterest in the discussion, job, and organization. Since it is unlikely that every topic was covered during the interview, the candidate should want to know more about at least one issue that came up during the talk. You likely should not hire this candidate.

Want Help with Interviewing?

Work with RightStone to fill your hiring needs. Contact us today.

The Importance of Screening: 3 Ways to Ensure You Find the Best IT Candidates

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Keeping your talent pipeline full and moving is a core part of business operations. Creating an effective screening process is a significant part of the process.

Screening applicants ensures you only move the candidates best-suited for the job forward. It also saves you a significant amount of time both in the initial review and later in the hiring process.

Applicant screening can include a wide range of processes. Here are a few of the best techniques for hiring the best IT candidates.

Skills Testing Technology

You know what skills are mandatory and what ones are nice to have. Most of your applicants come to you with those skills in some form, so if you want to screen them successfully, use skills testing.

Technical skills screening is simple to administer and delivers precise results. By employing this technique, you’ll cut the wheat from the chaff and narrow your candidate pool without adding more to your plate.

Paid Trials/Short Contracts

Often, a hiring decision is a close call between two or three highly-qualified people. But those qualifications may not mean the new hires work out. Trial periods can dramatically reduce employee turnover, dropouts before the start date and ensure you also get the right candidate for your culture.

Paid trial periods or projects give you both a chance to see their performance on the team without a commitment. It’s low risk for both parties, and when it works out, you have a better employee who is also prepared for the demands of the job.

Outsource the Initial Screening

Do you find yourself sorting through dozens or even hundreds of resumes? It’s not uncommon to have only 30 seconds to dedicate to each application received. While technology can do this job for you, many companies, particularly SMEs, still prefer to have the human touch.

Why not use a staffing firm to go through the big pile of applications? They can use your goals and their experience and resources to pull out the best from the pack. The process gifts you a smaller pool to make the final decision, so you can focus your energy and resources where it matters most.

Screen for Success

Screening your applications will produce better employees and shores up your hiring process. There are many ways to go out about the screening process, which means you can ensure it matches your business and talent pipeline needs.

Are you looking for new IT consultants who come pre-screened and match your organization’s needs? Get in touch to learn more about the RightStone 360 process.