No company sets out to hire sub-par employees or to allow their competitors to scoop up all the great job candidates. Acquiring top talent for your company takes work as well as time. There are at least two things you can do to help your company find great candidates, who support your company’s goals and vision.
Pick the Right Job Title
The job title should be easily searchable on the Internet. For example, while “sales genius” or “typing titan” might sound good in your head, simpler titles such as “sales associate” or “typist” are going to be terms potential candidates are more likely to be searching. You may have a great job listed, and the perfect candidate might miss the job if you get too elaborate with your job titles. If you are unsure of the perfect way to list a job, ask employees who have a similar job what they would suggest. You may even want to try out two or three job titles, especially if you are listing the job on different sites. This will help you get a wider range of talent.
It is also important to have a job title that accurately portrays the actual job. For example, if you are looking for an experienced candidate, including “senior” in the title will help weed out the less experienced applicants and will help those who have the appropriate level of experience know that this could be a good fit for them.
Be careful, though, that the job title really fits with the job description. Be honest with yourself and others when it comes to this. Listing the job as a “senior-level” position when really it is more appropriate for someone right out of college or someone with only limited experience in the job field might limit the number of qualified candidates. The job description will turn away those with more experience, and the less-experienced job seekers may see the job title and move on. Having someone read over what you plan to list as the job title and job description before you post it can help to ensure that all the information associated with the job is accurate.
Ask the Right Questions
Once the job is posted, the applications may start to quickly come in. In an ideal hiring world, one candidate will quickly stand out as that perfect fit, but the ideal hiring world rarely exists. More than likely, you will quickly weed out a few people who clearly do not fit the job description, and then most of the applicants will begin to look similar. Finding just the right person to join your company can be a struggle, especially if you are hiring for an entry-level job where many of the candidates will have limited work experience, and many of them will have a similar educational background. A recent Smart Company article discussed some questions that can help you get to know potential candidates on a more individual level. Here are five of the questions they suggested:
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- How has your educational experience shaped you for this role?
- Describe a time you did not get along with your boss. What happened?
- Tell me about a time in school when you had to deal with a conflict between classmates.
- If you did not know how to complete a task on a project list, what would you do?
Of course, many of these questions could lead to follow-up questions, which could help you to know if the candidate is a good fit for your company. Sometimes, finding the ideal new employee, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, requires the help of outside sources.Contact us if you need help finding quality candidates for job openings at your company.
