Don't compromise
As a rule, a new employee was needed yesterday, there is a lot of work, the employees are overloaded, and you make an offer without being completely sure that you have found the perfect candidate. Of course, you may be lucky, but more often your fears are justified, and during the probationary period you also compromise, because "everything is not so bad." As a result, you have an "average" employee in your team who cannot complete all the necessary work tasks and implement grandiose plans.
The first time in my practice, when I realized that compromise is dangerous, was funny and ended painlessly. A girl who had previously worked in the luxury brand sphere came to the consulting company to work in HR. I did the third and final interview. The girl answered questions well, and the position was quite initial, so, despite the intuitive feeling that something was wrong, I decided to make an offer. The girl resigned a day later, explaining that working in open-are and at a laptop, and not in a separate office and at a stationary computer, "can cause serious harm to health." The discrepancy between her expectations and reality, of course, could be identified at the interview stage.
Hide the mirror and turn on trust mode
Often, when recruiting employees, we value the qualities that we ourselves possess and mirror them to the candidate. But different professions require different skills and different psycho-physical qualities. You should always try to break away from your usual views and look at the situation from the outside. If we select an entire team that knows how to plan clearly, fulfill deadlines, is never late, then we will miss an employee who can get involved in a situation without stress at the last minute, when “everything went wrong”, being half an hour late for work. to create new solutions, etc. So, for me personally, it is important not how an employee works, but what result he has at the exit. In most Western companies, flexible hours and working from home are ways to create a comfortable environment for employees. Trust the candidate and the employee - evaluate him by the result, not by the time spent in the office.
Develop a clear algorithm for finding the ideal employee
I have it like this:
- make the most complete description of the position and requirements for the candidate;
- to work out all the resumes received (this work helps to weed out from 50% to 90% of the resumes of those you do not need);
Everyone seems to know how to write a resume these days, but this is only an appearance. Candidates continue to insert photographs into their CVs in sundresses and décolletés, at lunch and with a glass of beer, or, for example, apply for the position of “business development manager” resume, a third of which is occupied by the description of the hobby “beekeeping”.
- conduct interviews on competencies (if the position is more typical and "massive", you can conduct tests before the interview);
- prepare a task for the candidate for the future field of activity (this will show how seriously the applicant is disposed to work, how he knows how to search and structure information, how he thinks logically, convinces, etc.).
How to make the right decision?
The purpose of the interview is to find out the real experience of the candidate (in which projects he participated, what skills he developed, how he looked for new solutions and behaved in stressful situations, etc.). For me, for example, it is very important to understand how a person knows how to draw conclusions from mistakes, how he evaluates the success or failure of projects, how he can learn. Of course, for this, it is necessary to draw up a plan of the conversation: in advance, review the resume, sketch out a list of questions.
There are some universal rules that will help you determine if you are a professional or an “amateur”. What you need to pay attention to:
─ has the candidate done his “homework”;
─ how did you prepare for the interview;
─ does he have a career plan
─ does he ask questions (if yes, which ones)
─ what gestures and facial expressions
does he have ─ does it correspond to the "appearance" of the vacancy.
An ideal employee, regardless of profession, is a professional who must integrate into the corporate culture of the company. Tests, interviews and test assignments will help determine that the candidate is a professional. But how to understand that a candidate will "fit in"? Analyze behavior and trust your intuition.
Of course, there is no one universal “ruler” for all candidates, nevertheless, you can formulate 10 features of a candidate that you definitely do not need.
This candidate:
1. Thinks only about his own benefit
2. Doesn't ask questions at all during the interview
3. Knows nothing about the company
4. Speaks only about himself
5. Unfriendly
6. Has an unkempt appearance
7. Emotionally contradicts the future team
8. Relative or a close person of one of the employees
9. From the very beginning of the acquaintance imitates the activity (finds excuses for being late, answers questions without specifics)
10. Evokes strong negative emotions.
about the author
Vera Starodubtseva, Head of ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - a global professional association uniting specialists in the field of finance and accounting) in Russia
Photo: Getty Images
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