Are You Hiring the Right Candidates? 4 Effective Ways To Avoid Bad Hires During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic moved many companies to hire virtually to adhere to social-distancing measures set by respective governments. Although digital hiring may seem convenient, it poses many challenges as it hinders hiring companies from thoroughly examining candidates to see if they are the right fit for their organization. 

Due to the lack of physical and personal interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee, many companies suffer regretful hires after a few months of training or engagement. 

To help you prevent such inconvenience, we will discuss several ways to help improve your candidate filtration system so you can avoid onboarding bad hires. 

What Are the Characteristics of A Bad Hire?

Before we venture into how you can avoid bad hires, we need to establish what characteristics such candidates possess to determine whether they fall under the “bad hire” category. 

In essence, a bad hire is a candidate who fails to live up to the expectations they have set for themselves during the interview or hiring process. The most common characteristics such candidates possess are:

• Misrepresentation of skills during the interview process
• Inability to meet the minimum standard for performance or quality of work
• Lack of commitment to responsibilities or engagement with workmates
• More interested in the benefits they can acquire rather than their job responsibilities
• Easily discouraged with mistakes and dislikes being taught

Such characteristics are usually present within the first few months after the candidate starts working in your company. Aspects such as personality type can also be considered to determine whether the candidate is fit for the job.

#1: Interrogate the CV

The curriculum vitae (CV) is the golden ticket for many candidates to get through the shortlisting process and proceed with the interview phase. That said, there is a possibility that you will encounter candidates who exaggerate or even alter the contents of their CV to hook employers during their job hunt.

Interrogating the CV will help you determine if the experiences listed in the CV matches with the candidate’s claims during the interview. Ask them their job descriptions, their duties and responsibilities from previous job positions, the methods they used to accomplish difficult tasks, etc. Although such questions are broad, they will help you recognize which candidates value integrity. 

With the business sector continually evolving, soft skills have proven to be a vital characteristic for candidates. If their CV shows too many job changes with little internal progression, it may suggest that the candidate possesses little-to-no resilience which may cause problems for your company. 

#2: Look For Interview Danger Signs

One of the main things to look for during the interview process is the preparedness of the candidate. Asking about your company helps you identify if the candidate familiarized himself with your company, projects, and his possible role. This shows their commitment to be a part of your company and that they are not just there for the sake of getting employed. 

Strong candidates will go the extra mile to show focus on commercial aspects of your company such as your competitors, market challenges, and potential growth. Physical cues such as body language and hygiene are also important indicators of a suitable hire. 

#3: Interviewee Questions

By the end of every interview, it’s standard for recruiters to ask the candidate if they have any questions. Candidates who ask questions about the company, their job responsibilities, and aspects that they could look forward to in the position after the interview shows eagerness in their application. 

These questions can become indicators for good or bad hires as such will help you figure out what kind of person they are in the workplace and in their own personal time. Questions that ask about the company’s future plans, projects, collaborations, job responsibilities, benefits and the likes are indicators of a potentially good hire. 

#4: Standardize Your Interview Process

Every person is unique in their own way, making interview results vary from one another. Standardizing your interview process will make it easier for you to evaluate each candidate despite their differences. Having a process will also give the interview structure. 

One of the most common interview processes is as follows:

• Phone Screening. Having a short chat with your candidate through the phone can help you get a gist of who the candidate is. Phone interviews allow you to vet candidates before deciding to invest more time on them. 
• Skills Test. This can happen before, during, or after the interview. Tests can be a gateway for you to validate the skills that candidates write on their CVs. 

• Face-to-Face or Virtual Interview. With the pandemic at large, it is best to conduct job interviews virtually to ensure the health and safety of both parties. This phase of the interview process is your chance to ensure that the applicant is the right fit for the job.

Your interview process can vary depending on your industry, the nature of work, or the type of job you are trying to fill. This can also help deepen your filtration process and decrease your chances of onboarding bad hires.

Hire Your Next Top Candidates With Confidence

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, avoiding bad hires is a common priority for many companies to avoid costly turnovers, backlogs, and low-quality output. Besides these reasons, maintaining a standard for your employees will help you foster a healthy but competitive work environment. 

The tips listed in this article can help you obtain the best candidates in your industry today, especially as the world moves from traditional to virtual hiring practices. If you find such methods exhaustive, you can always seek a talent acquisition provider to ensure that you get the most suitable candidates for your company. 

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