In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at some common recruiting mistakes to avoid. Hiring and recruiting are too crucial to have avoidable mistakes! Here are some more to look out for.
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- Ignoring the fact that a salary sends a signal. While clearly pay isn’t everything (more on that in a moment), the salary level on offer does send a signal in terms of the value of the role to the organization. It should be fair for the responsibilities, and it should be in alignment with other related roles. There should not be any indication that the salary was decreased after the process started (as could happen if a salary range is posted and the initial offer is below that range). Any time the salary level is not in alignment with the applicant expectations, that will send a message about the organization—and that message could end the entire process.
- Forgetting to showcase the other benefits. While we just noted that salaries signal something about how the organization values the role, it’s also important to present the entire compensation package. People are motivated by more than just money. Vacation time, insurance offerings, and other benefits are often deciding factors between job offers.
- Hiring someone who is not a good fit simply because there are no qualified applicants applying. This can be a huge mistake because a bad hire costs a lot—both in literal terms and in terms of productivity and employee morale. If you’re not finding enough qualified applicants for a job opening, instead, look to expand the reach of the job posting rather than settling for someone who is not a good fit for the role.
- Not asking questions that lead to understanding cultural fit. In the interview, not only is it important to be consistent and ask questions that showcase the applicant’s abilities, it’s also important to ask questions that will indicate whether that individual will be a good organizational fit overall. For example, asking questions about the employee’s values and about their ideal work week can help an organization understand more about how this individual thinks about the job and about what is important in his or her life. That can help to see if there will be a good fit with the organization’s expectations. Just because someone is well-qualified in terms of experience does not mean he or she will be guaranteed to work well within your organizational culture.
What other recruiting mistakes have you seen or learned?