“Change is hard. It requires looking in the mirror, and that can be tough,” says Tammy Colson, CEO of TalentCrib. But making changes to your recruiting process ensures you’ll attract the people who want to be there, she says — and that directly affects your quality of hire.
Here are three tips from Colson for improving your quality of hire.
Focus on the Work, Not the Background
Take a look at your job ads and what they describe. If your advertisements focus more on the person and the experience or background they should have, Colson says, you’re bound to get candidates who aren’t as strong. “When you ask for a four-year degree with a certain background and so many years of experience, you’re not looking at the work, you’re looking at the person,” she says. Applicants as well as hiring managers will focus on matching the requirements between candidate and position.
It’s a simple enough tactic to make your job ads focus more on the role, Colson says. They should describe the work that the person in the role is going to do and the results they need to achieve. Job ads and interview questions that focus more on the work will result in a better quality of hire, Colson says, as candidates will better understand the position and whether they’re a good fit.
Improve the Candidate Experience
No matter the position, elevate the candidate experience. Regardless of whether someone is hired, they should come away with a good experience, Colson says. “When you create an environment where candidates appreciate the process whether they’re hired or not, you get a better quality of hire. It doesn’t matter whether that’s the mechanic or the mechanical engineer,” she says.
One of the easiest ways to quickly improve that experience is to commit to scheduling interviews in a timely manner and to giving feedback quickly so that the candidate isn’t left hanging, Colson says. Other tactics could include updating your ATS or training hiring managers on effective interviewing.
Screen In Instead of Screening Out
It’s easy to get stuck on a candidate that you don’t love. Even if they have everything you’re looking for, there may be something about them — they don’t have the experience you were hoping for, for example. “We tend to screen out people instead of screening them into the company,” and that can lead to missing out on diamonds in the rough, Colson says.
If you have this reaction, it’s time to step back and consider whether this person really has behavioral issues or is a bad fit, or whether it might be a flaw they could actually improve. “Everybody’s got an opportunity for development, and everybody has things they can work on,” she says. “This is how we end up with workforces with a diversity of thought.” If the candidate can do the work and has the potential to learn, don’t get hung up on looking for reasons to eliminate them.
