Volume 8
Employment Essentials Volume 8: What type of outline should you use to effectively screen a candidate?
With Q3 upon us and Q4 not too far away, the shoulders of recruiting get heavy this time of year. This might be you in your HR department, with so many positions open, and so little time! This might be overwhelming at times, but the right framework and perspective can help you break recruiting down into manageable pieces.
First, what are we looking to achieve with recruiting? Filling positions with the best talent currently available based on our budget. Great! Now we can set realistic expectations about the interview process.
What are we looking to identify during the interview process? Whether the candidate can successfully do the job and is also a good culture fit for our team.
Now that we know what two questions we are looking to answer for ourselves during our interview, we can now begin building a focused hiring process.
Recruiting can be broken down into three main areas, Sourcing, Screening, & Selecting, with Screening being arguably the most important area. Screening is defined as separating something from something else or to evaluate or analyze for suitability.
Today’s Masterclass shows you a simple THREE step screening process that answers those two questions…
Can they do the job? Will they be a good fit? Remember, the purpose of the screening is to separate the potential candidates from the mismatches as soon as possible. This will give you a pipeline of candidates to then work with.
General Screening: First off, is this candidate even in the same ballpark as you? Are you on the same page, or in completely different books? Before committing too much time, specific details, and additional steps, after basic formalities, it is important to start with logistical items about the role such as pay, schedule, commute, and other job details. This can be what you call “Make it or Break it” items on either side and it is better to address them sooner than later.
During this general screening time, address any discrepancies or inconsistencies about their work history like gaps in employment, or short tenures. If you find poor work history, and other inconsistencies early on, you might be better off cutting your losses and focusing on other candidates that are more consistent with what you are looking for.
Job Specific Screening: Once you’ve separated the candidates you no longer want to work with, you can now focus on the remaining ones that might make the cut.
This portion of the screening is where you can best determine whether you are making a good investment or not. This is where we screen even further looking to separate candidates we just like, from the ones who will add the most value to the team. You are making a financial investment, and the candidate needs to be able to convey how they merit that salary. While there are many specific questions to ask about the job, the general consensus should be below:
Does this person know what their job title is responsible for?
Do they have daily practice doing the job?
Are they familiar with the tools/equipment we use to perform the job?
Do they know the workflow and processes to successfully do the job?
Can they explain the industry best practices and why they use them?
Can they do it unsupervised?
Make sure you ask your questions in an open-ended way that encourages the candidate to explain themselves and provide real examples from their work history.
Culture Fit Screening: Once you’ve confirmed this person could successfully perform the job and is a good investment for the department, invite them to meet the team in person to get a better understanding if this person would line up with the company’s core values and expectations.
Aim to identify the following personality traits or other traits that better suit your company:
How do they treat others?
How do they feel about teamwork?
What is their mindset on working longer hours if needed?
What is their communication style like?
Do they show signs of being potential distractions?
Pay attention to these little details and consider the entirety of the screening process before making a decision.
Not every candidate will be perfect but you can now make an educated decision based on objective best practices and subjective details that are important to your company.
With best-in-class Sourcing and Screening, our team frees you up to attend to other pressing department matters.
FLAG has a track record of helping our client focus on the Selection portion of the screening process.
Find out how FLAG can help you gain that competitive market edge and get your operation back to what it does best!
Cheers to your Success!
#WESTANDFORYOU
Employee Insights Volume 8: What can I do to help during the onboarding process?
Congratulations! If you are getting ready to onboard, you were clearly the best choice compared to the other candidates, it's time to get to work! But not so fast… we have one final process to go through to make sure all things pertaining to your employee profile are good to go before your first day.
Onboarding is the most detail sensitive part of the hiring process and failure to take this part seriously can delay your start date, create issues with your pay, and other sorts of avoidable issues.
Pro Tip: While you may have already gotten an offer, don’t forget, you haven’t actually started work yet. Part of the impression you create with your new team will be stemmed from how well you work with the onboarding team prior to your start date.
This Masterclass Monday, learn how to come prepared to the table and breeze past this simple, yet highly important part of the hiring process.
Expediency:
Once an offer has been extended, take the time to go over the details and ask any questions you might have as early on as possible. The longer in the process you wait, the tougher it becomes to make changes or accommodations. The backend of the onboarding process can be tedious and time consuming to your future HR colleagues, be mindful of their workload and the fact that they are facilitating your employment.
Start Date:
Be transparent and decisive when providing your start date availability and take this time to button up any last-minute items before committing to onboarding and training. This includes your resignation notice, bank visits, doctor/dentist appointments, etc. Once you start, your employer invests large sums of time and money to make sure you are well equipped to do your job as expected. In your best interest, be sure you are ready for that day!
Pre-Employment Check Availability:
Most employers will have you undergo a series of certain pre-employment checks, most commonly, background checks and drug tests. Depending on the nature of the job, you may also be asked to undergo additional physical exams to test your work readiness and health baseline. These steps require you to make the trip to a clinic which also includes, testing time, and the wait time for the results. Many times, the difference between starting from one week to another depends on how quickly you can prioritize and complete your exams.
Documentation:
I9: For employment verification in the U.S. you are required to present documentation that verifies identity, as well as work eligibility. This may be a combination of documents, like various ID’s along with SSN’s or birth certificates, or one document total such as a passport.
Be sure your documents are not expired and still viable! Expired documents are not acceptable!
Direct Deposit: To avoid any discrepancies or delays in pay be sure to provide a direct deposit form from your banking institution as well as double and triple check your data input if required to add it manually.
All in all, this part of the hiring process is the most important part in ensuring your personal details are correct and there are no errors for your payment, internal coding, mailing, tax documents, etc.
Support your team with your full attention and be sure to speak up if you have any questions.
FLAG doesn’t call it a win until you cross the entire finish line. Work with a partner you trust, from beginning to end.
Partner with us and see how we can also support you through your onboarding process!
#WESTANDFORYOU