The wrong hire comes with financial setbacks, especially as a small business owner. While large companies and corporations can often absorb the impact of a bad hire, small businesses can’t afford to carry around the dead weight for very long. Every new hire is both costly and time-consuming.
To avoid making the wrong hire, you need to nail down your interview process. By avoiding these 11 costly interviewing mistakes, you can increase your chances of hiring the right candidate for the position.
1. Talking Too Much
While an interview should be a two-way conversation, you’ll never be able to glean enough information about a candidate if you dominate the conversation and don’t allow them enough time to speak.
Resist talking excessively about your company if it’s going to prevent them from sharing and answering your questions properly.
2. Failing to Prepare for the Interview
The job applicant isn’t the only party that should be preparing for a job interview. As the employer, it’s important that you do your homework too.
Make sure you understand the position you’re hiring for and ask relevant questions that will help you determine whether the candidate is the right fit for that role.
3. Making Up Questions on the Spot
Each question should serve a purpose and tell you something important about a candidate.
While you can certainly ask the occasional on-the-fly or follow-up question, make sure that the majority of your questions have been carefully premeditated and planned out.
4. Not Knowing What You Can Legally Ask
Did you know that there are interview questions that you’re not legally able to ask an applicant? Make sure that you’re familiar with them.
There are similar questions that will yield similar information without causing you to break the law. Ask those questions instead!
5. Not Being Transparent With the Candidate
Every job position has its benefits and drawbacks, and the position you’re hiring for is no exception.
Be careful not to provide or omit information that could cause the candidate to have unrealistic expectations about the job. This will only come back to bite you down the road.
6. Overselling the Position
Of course, all of your job candidates should feel as if your open position is a great opportunity. However, be careful not to enter full-blown sales mode early on in the interview process.
Once the first round of interviews has passed and you have chosen a final candidate or two, you can start selling the job to them.
7. Allowing Bias to Cloud Your Judgment
Every employer or hiring manager has their own personal biases, whether it’s specific interests, hobbies, or loyalty to a particular sports team (in my case, the Boston Red Sox).
Although personal biases are largely inevitable, don’t let them impact your hiring decision. Remain as neutral as possible.
8. Being Rude
It should go without saying that being rude or having an attitude with an applicant is never acceptable. Always treat applicants how you would want to be treated.
Being rude or aggressive is not only uncalled for but it’s also a surefire way to lose the perfect candidate for the job.
9. Playing “Hard-to-Get”
Remember, every hiring decision is two-fold. Yes, you must choose the candidate, but the candidate must also choose you. Playing “hard-to-get” with your top candidates and not valuing what they bring can be off-putting.
Take time to acknowledge the ways in which you see your top candidates adding value to your company. They want to feel wanted!
10. Acting Hastily
It can be tempting to hire an applicant quickly when you have a void that needs to be filled. A bad hire, however, can prove to be even more problematic than an open position.
Of course, you should by no means delay the hiring process; but you should take the time to truly vet your candidates and determine if they are the right fit for the job. Typically, this process will involve more than a single interview.
11. Not Admitting Your Mistakes
Even if you’re able to correct all of the aforementioned mistakes during the interview process, there are times when you might be pursuing the wrong candidate and must have the self-awareness to admit it.
It’s important that you admit mistakes as they occur so that you can adjust accordingly!