Avoid Frightful Hires - The Screening Process
1 Oct 2020
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Avoid Frightful Hires this October – With These Tops Tips.
This October we bring to you our top “Recruitment Hacks” to help you avoid frightful hires and nightmare supernatural recruitment experiences!
Ok, maybe not supernatural, but still scary enough!!!
Check out our top tips below to help you avoid bad hires this October and all year around.
In this blog we provide a guide on the The “Screaming” Process
(Sorry I mean, ………The "Screening" Process)
To often than not we find that employers neglect their screening process of candidates, either doing the bare minimum or doing it too late resulting in not only a waste of time but also creating an awkward situation.
I have outlined the below steps which would be good practise to follow if not already part of your recruitment procedure:
Step 1) Examine the CV
Look out for gaps in employment and question motives to move. The reason someone has left a company before could likely be the same reason they will leave again.
On the same note though, be careful when doing this not to be too dismissive, I have seen from experience that some candidates have had bad luck, due to redundancies and company administrations due to no fault of their own, so don’t rule out a cv for being too jumpy, as you might miss out on a diamond in the rough.
Step 2) Check Out Social Media
Check out a candidates Linkedin profile and potentially other social media. It is also sometimes useful to type a candidate’s name into google to ensure you don’t find anything Ghoulish.
Checking out linkedin can also be very useful to see if the candidate has any good recommendations from past employers / colleagues and as such is a good sign of positive references to follow.
Step 3) Application Form
This is a crucial and often easily overlooked part of the process when you are busy. You would be wise to request candidates complete the application either prior to the 1st or 2nd interview, point being that you request it before investing too much time and leaving it too late in the process.
The reason this is so important is it will highlight information early on that might be a show stopper.
Such as having the right eligibility to work in the UK or notifying you of any previous criminal convictions that might prevent them working for you.
Keep in mind you cannot discriminate against someone for having previous criminal convictions and as part of the rehabilitation process to help avoid people returning to crime it is essential they have the opportunity to find work and improve their life.
However, in some job roles, particularly where certain security clearances are required it would be better to find this out early on to avoid wasting both your own and the candidates time.
Same goes with checking for eligibility to work in the UK, not only is it a waste of everyone’s time as you wont be able to progress with the candidate but also if you do accidently hire someone without checking who then turns out not to be eligible then your company can also face serious fines.
In addition, the information in the application form will also make sending out an offer a speedy process as you will have already have address details ready to send to.
Step 4) Interviews
Ideally look to do a 2 stage process or at least involve two interviewers to allow you to discuss and compare, this way you are more likely to pick up on things that perhaps interviewing alone you might have missed.
I would note though that this is no excuse to create a long drawn out recruitment process. Nothing kills recruitment quicker than a slow process and is a common way to miss out on candidates by not moving quickly enough.
But with the modern-day opportunity to also do interviews online, it allows for an easier way to fit interviews into both your own diary and the candidates over shorter timescales.
Step 5) References
Don’t forget to contact at least two of the candidates references. Whilst there is the concern that nobody would give you a potentially bad referee to contact, it is still at least going to give you confidence that two people have spoken highly about the candidate rather than not checking at all.
Its important to remember that a candidate may be nervous about giving out references until later stages of the interview / recruitment process, on the basis they don’t want their current employer to find out they are looking to move. So only follow up references when you have the candidates permission, are serious about progressing with them and in a position to make a job offer.
Ideally you want to be chasing up references before an offer is made or worst case before they start employment.
If you can’t chase up references until after an offer is made, ensure you have it stated in your employment contract that the offer is subject to receiving satisfactory references.
To make the most of references, remember that you are not just looking out for problems, in fact its unrealistic to expect any candidate to be perfect and as such references are a great way to not only rule out any major concerns but also to gain an insight to how the candidate could improve to allow you to put relevant support / training in place when they start.
A good manager must endeavour to learn how to get the best out of people.
Step 6) Proof of I.D & Qualifications
In addition to a scan of a passport (as proof of eligibility to work in the UK) it would also be worth requesting any further proof of I.D and a scan of any relevant qualifications.
This will rule out any potential issues further down the line if you was to find out the candidate had only part completed a qualification or worse still had never undertaken the qualification at all.
Conclusion
None of these points reinvent the wheel, but the key thing is to include and be consistent with them as part of your recruitment procedure to help reduce your chances of a bad hire.
Whilst it’s important to conduct the screening process you must also be mindful of at what stage to request information to avoid scaring off less urgently looking candidates early in the process as well as maintaining a recruitment process that allows you to be swift to act to ensure you do not miss out on any top talent!
The screening process should be a combined effort of both the hiring manager and HR, as well as support from a recruitment agency to help chase up screening and keep the process moving.
On that note, whilst some agencies do it as standard, lots don't, so its important to check and ensure you partner with a recruitment consultancy that will support you on this.
I am pleased to say that here at Talk Recruitment Ltd we have a wealth of experience supporting employers with their candidate screening and would be delighted to assist you also, so please get in touch if we can help discuss your current recruitment procedure or assist with any current vacancies.
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We hope this blog was of use and would be delighted to hear your thoughts and any further tips on candidate screening from your experience that may benefit others.
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