The quality of the employees you hire can make or break your business. The right selection will bring new energy into the workplace and produce results that will boost business growth. The wrong selection, however, will always prove to be a costly mistake. 

Running a business comes with its challenges, but the quality of your employees should not be one of the things you have to worry about nor compromise on.

Choosing the right person for the job can prove to be quite a hassle especially when you take into consideration the number of candidates you’d have to interview and then evaluate.

The average number of people who apply for any given job is approximately 118. 20% of those applicants get an interview. How then do you find the one person who is suitable for the job? Here are five ways you can evaluate a candidate to know if they’re the right fit.

1. Read the candidate  body language

Body language can tell you a lot about the type of person they are and the type of energy they will bring into your work environment. The way they sit, the firmness of a handshake, eye contact – all of these factors can tell you how they feel at that moment.

Positive body language such as nodding while listening, using hand gestures while speaking, and an upright posture while sitting indicate confidence and interest. On the other hand,  a weak handshake, crossing of the arms and fidgeting may show a lack of confidence and a lack of interest.

They can also tell you about how interested they are in working for you. These are solid clues you can use. Take note of all of that and keep them in mind when forming your final opinion.

2. Don’t dwell on resume excellence alone, assess them in person too

Job applicants often exaggerate their skills and abilities when asked to present them on paper. You can expect to see lots of jargon when going through resumes. Amidst all the fluff, be sure to keep an eye out for the skills that the job actually requires.

Make a list of the skills and abilities you are looking out for. Cross-check the candidate’s skills and abilities with the ones on your list and highlight the ones that are relevant.

Assign them with a task. What is the better way to determine if a person is right for a position than to watch him do the job? You can watch how they go about completing the task and then evaluate the end result. Depending on the job, the assignment could be as simple as answering the telephone or as complicated as analyzing a chart or developing a particular program.

3. Use references correctly during the background check

The purpose of including references on a resume is to serve as evidence of work listed on the resume. They should be used as such. Contact references listed on the resumes of promising candidates and ask questions.

Ask about the work experience the candidate has included on the resume. Talk about the candidate’s interaction with team members and higher-ups in their previous workplace. Ask about any and everything that you think is important to your final decision because, as mentioned earlier, resumes tend to be filled with a lot of fluff.

 A good way of getting through this is to ask about specific achievements. Try to explore deeper about what the applicant claims to have done. 

4. Evaluate levels of commitment to work and culture compatibility

Look through the resume and make sure the applicant does not switch jobs often, especially just for the sake of higher pay. You can do this by looking at the time he spent at each company.

If an applicant does not spend a lot of time at one company before moving to another one, you can be sure that he will quickly move on from yours.

Apart from getting the work done, you want to make sure your employees get along to some degree. Examining what previous employees have to say concerning the candidate in their letter of recommendation can give you an idea of how they relate in a workspace.

5. Make sure candidate evaluation is transparent

The opinions of everyone in your hiring team for each candidate must be factored in when making the final decision of who to give the job.

Take a collaborative approach by agreeing on how the candidate should be assessed across the hiring team. Any information concerning the hiring process must be shared with all members promptly and accurately to promote a hitch-free process. 

Aggregate the assessments of all responsible team members to be the overall candidate’s score. This way, everyone in the team feels included in the hiring process, and in the growth of the company as a result. Companies that prioritize transparency are more likely to have a higher quality of hire.

Using tools like Grove HR to consolidate all hiring notes and candidate’ scores in one place. Plus, everyone in the hiring team can track and update candidate status in real-time. 

Your Final Decision

At the end of all these steps, you might have a few promising candidates. Before you finally pick “the one”, ask yourself the following questions for each applicant:

  •     Is the candidate capable of doing the job?
  •     Is the candidate enthusiastic about doing the job?
  •     Is the candidate willing to learn new skills?
  •     Is the candidate a good fit for your company culture?

The ideal candidate has the skills needed for the job. He/she also has the confidence needed to execute the job, the potential to grow, and the personality fits right into your company culture.