Hiring: A hundred CVs and one opening!

Chronicles of Experience

The economy is, well not booming, but okay and things are looking up.  The company is doing well, paying those bills and the spare capital has translated into fantastic growth.  With all this excitement it might be time to think about hiring some new staff, but who is the best fit and how does anyone get through all the CV’s?

Filter:

Pick those attributes that you want in an employee and filter the CVs accordingly.  Just do a quick search through the CVs for certain characteristics you are keen on hiring into the company and throw away those that don’t grab your attention or have those attributes listed.  Here are just a couple of examples of the type of things to look out for

Bilingual: Do u need your salespeople or customer service reps to be able to talk to customers in the language they prefer so consider bilingualism as a part of your criteria for hiring.  Just remember to list the right languages.

Initiative: Two minds are better than one, but perhaps you only want one.  Think carefully about this one.  A great mind taking initiative is an asset, just as a less capable mind can lead to some loss.  When asking for someone to take initiative, make sure you are willing to trust them with that responsibility.

Leadership skills: Leaders lead so be sure you want a new leader in the mix.  Too many cooks spoil the broth and so on.  Leadership skills can also translate to the potential to lead.

Test:

People lie, especially on their CV’s, but those are not the type of people you want to be hiring.  So send an email to your prime candidates and ask them a couple of questions.  If you don’t receive any reply, well you know that they are not as reliable as they have been advertised to be.  Five short, well thought out questions are just what you need to divide the quality candidates from those that just would not be a good fit.  After this second round of probing, you should be able to save a lot of time during the interviewing process to finally move onto the final stage of hiring.

Interview:

You expect the candidate to come prepared and you should expect no less from yourself at an interview.  You should know by now what type of employee you need to fill the gap and you don’t have to settle.  Here are a couple of ideas for questions that might help you make the right choice:

Sketch a Scenario: You have a problem, a need, a role you wish this new employee to fill.  How do you know they’ll make the right call?  Ask them!  Set up the setting, event and players and let your applicant work their way through the minefield that is the position you are hiring for and see if they make the cut.

Test their knowledge: Not all degrees were created equal, so put them to the test.  Ask your candidate some questions related to the industries you expect them to be knowledgeable about.  If you are not impressed by their knowledge, you don’t have to pay their bills.

Integrity probing: You need to know if your applicant is acting impressive or being honest.  Look for something they mentioned they feel strongly about and ask a question that implies that u are against that same thing.  Watch as they either flip like a fish on or stay true to their beliefs.

After reading these tips you should know everything you need to know and be able to make wise and informed decisions when hiring.  Good people in your team is an asset you can never underestimate.  A rotten egg can spoil the whole omelette if you aren’t too careful.