Why Hiring Nobody Is Better Than Hiring Just Anybody
To hire anyone or not to hire at all? What should executives do: dare hire an imperfect candidate or keep the position vacant until a better candidate is found? In addition to the formal recommendations to look for people with at least minimal qualifications, we have highlighted the foremost essential character traits that most affect the team’s work. Here’s what to look out for and how you can support your staff in the face of a shortage of staff.
Ready to work
The new employee must effectively perform tasks at least at the minimum level of competence. If your employees are overwhelmed with work, some help is better than none – provided the new employee requires minimal training. Remember that training is expensive and time-consuming. Suppose you hire an incompetent person for a position requiring substantial workflow training. In that case, you burden the rest of the team, forcing them to spend time and energy helping the newcomer and correcting his mistakes.
Candidates must have not only specific problem-solving skills but also a growth mindset. People with this mindset are confident that they can deepen their knowledge and develop their abilities with the proper effort. This parameter can be assessed using special items of the questionnaire or during an interview. For example, ask a candidate the following question: “Could you describe a situation when you failed to do something? If you faced a similar problem again tomorrow, what would you do differently?”
Good communication
Being able to communicate well with colleagues is vital in any work environment, but working in virtual teams increases the importance of frequent communication and trust and amplifies the potential impact of a negative team member. HR professionals can assess basic communication skills during an interview by looking at various factors, including clarity and consistency in responses. You can ask the candidate about their preferred communication methods and favorite effective communication techniques.
Reliability
Over the past two years, flexibility in working conditions has become a priority for many employees. While the proliferation of telecommuting is largely successful, many executives still lack flexibility and reliability. We all face unforeseen situations from time to time, but resilient, adaptable people will generally be more reliable employees. If the applicant appears to be reliable and, given the amount of workload in the team, there is an opportunity to accept his specific requests for working conditions, he should be considered. On the other hand, unreliability can play a cruel joke on you if the job vacancy involves a customer base since trusted employees will have to look at customer information before they can help an unreliable colleague complete their tasks.
Flexibility
The flexibility request is predictable and therefore easier to manage than unreliable. During the hiring process, candidates often make requests to expect flexibility from the employer but rarely find themselves unreliable without proper guidance. To weed out inflexible job seekers, it is necessary to brush up on your reference checking skills. Also, it is crucial to revisit your usual list of interview questions and include leading questions such as “Can you tell us about one time you encountered an unforeseen circumstance and how did you deal with it?”
Positive attitude
Emotions are contagious. One negative person can infect others, derailing the whole team and increasing an already complex workload. Many employees will go so far as to change their workflow to avoid someone they don’t like, which creates all sorts of additional difficulties. If employees stop performing discretionary tasks, it has a cascading effect on other employees who do less work and become more dissatisfied in the process.
Team support
So now you don’t have a single qualified candidate. First, let your employees know that the problem is temporary and that you are trying to hire good colleagues for them. Many employees would instead work a little more for a few weeks than deal with poor hiring for a long time. Then take care of the employees who choose to stay: consider, for example, burnout management strategies. Current employees need respect, attention, reward, and engagement.
Suppose you do not have candidates right now who can be reliable and have a growth mindset, positive attitude, and decent communication skills. In that case, you should consider using international PEO services to help you implement your inclusive recruiting strategy.
Knowledge workers can increase their productivity by half by delegating them to someone else. Nevertheless, finding the right specialist can take some time. Think whether you should consider looking at candidates to relieve some of the pressure on your team.
