How to Find and Fix Hiring Process Problems

by Anjali Joshi  | Guest Contributor  | BUSINESS

Some of the identified problems in the hiring process that most organizations and managers ignore and the solution to them to fix it.

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You will find a lot of hiring problems as the process is long and as the data suggests, 75% of the population is not employable with relevant skills. But then again 60% of the skilled candidates are still unemployed. The data simply points that there is some problem in the hiring process where things are going wrong. Of course, there are other factors as well that are causing this discrepancy but the fixing of hiring problems can most certainly solve this to some extent.

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The process of hiring people can not be avoided in any, be it even a small business in fact obtaining the right people becomes all the more important in such situations. Hiring even for small businesses that are not well equipped to hire a huge staff, they hire external experts even if it is for a limited period to obtain their services. Below mentioned are some of the identified problems in the hiring process that most organizations and managers ignore and the solution to them to fix it.

A) Not Checking and Giving Importance References
The problems in the interviewing process can be coming when the hirers are not well prepared and keen. It can get tedious performing the same process again and again but think of it in this way: each candidate that you are talking to is a different person and try to find what makes them different and delve deep into each one of them. This will make the process interesting for you and fair to the candidates as well.

B) Retention Of Employees Hired
It is often among the biggest problems of some recruiters that the people they hire after putting in so much effort and spending a lot of time, often leave the organizations way too soon, affecting the retention rate. This can primarily happen when the recruiters do not pay attention to other details when hiring. 

Checking if the candidate is suitable for the role is very important. Do not simply fill in a candidate for the position you need to be filled. Take personality and behavior tests to assure the type of person the candidate is and if he/ she is suitable for the role. Ask relevant questions regarding their long-term and short-term plans during the interview round. Gain more insight on the type of organization that they are looking for and the type of candidate you are looking for, If the values and cultural expectations do not match, check if any of you are ready to negotiate regarding the same and only then confirm the hiring.

C) The Interviewer's Bias
Every human being is hard-wired to have some biases of their own and there is little we can do about this situation. Interviews are prone to seek similar interests and often disregard differences in cases of favoritism. At the core of us, we are but humans, and these types of biases tend to get the better of us. Things that can create bias are age, gender, culture, and other factors.

Some ways to reduce the interviewer's bias are:

• Define the job and job description and try not to stray away from it. It has to be what they have done and not what they have.
• Conducting panel interviews that are semi-scripted helps with reducing the bias in the situation.
• Use a talent score to judge the better candidate. keep a flashcard or a scorecard and make tick marks accordingly for each candidate. The candidate with the most ticks wins!
• Script the interview and conduct it with the scripted questions only. you can use a report or a scorecard like mentioned before here as well. You can document the scores as evidence of impartiality.

D) Lacking Preparation
I am sure you must be getting a lot of candidates that are unprepared or underprepared for the interview.  But this also requires the same from your side.

Before the interview, it is imperative that the way you communicate be highly formal, serious, and professional. That itself should indicate to the candidates that there is no space for those who are not dead serious about this. If your behavior is unprofessional and casual it is very likely that the candidates will also that it in an easy-going manner and try to wing it as it comes. 

Send them a detailed mail regarding the when, where, and how's of the interview. If it is remote interviewing then to ensure that the seriousness is maintained, you can also send some tips for the interview. 

E) Remote Interviewing
It is not that it was not done before but the Covid -19 pandemic has made remote hiring the norm. In such cases, it is important to take extra care and change your regular ways of hiring. This does make the hiring process a bit longer and requires hiring managers to be extra careful on their part. Not only hiring but managing remote employees too becomes difficult and confusing.

Even for the pre-employment tests, there has to be a perfect system in place and a process that is systematic and step by step but at the same time, is not tedious. Maintaining this balance is necessary. It is compulsory to conduct tests from online platforms, especially for posts of coding and other technical jobs that require conducting practicals.

Conclusion
These were some observed hiring problems that are often found and make the process unsuitable. When you start noticing the small gaps in your organization that's when you can find such problems in the hiring process.

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