Does it feel like your company is forever going back to the drawing board in attempting to fill vacancies? Many companies wildly underestimate both the time and the cost of recruiting the wrong candidates again and again. At Clayton Recruitment we are experts at finding the right candidates for the right clients, and we can easily spot the mistakes companies continue to make in their hiring process.

In this article we share five of the most common big mistakes we see hiring managers make in hiring the wrong talent.

1. Hiring On Your ‘Gut Feeling’

There can be a lot to say for basing decisions on ‘gut feeling’ and it isn’t the panacea we sometimes think. Yes, hiring managers need to be interested in people, but they must also look beyond the shiny exterior candidates often present to them. Candidates can often be over, or under friendly on the day of the interview, as is familiar with nerves.

A skilled interviewer can see past the veneer and ask relevant questions that dig deeper to reveal what a person is like beyond what they are presenting.

If your hiring manager has a tendency towards one particular type of person (we all do, we’re all human) this can sway them one way or another, but they should be mindful of what will be good for the business as a whole, not just who they think they will get on best with.

2. Rushing the Process

We are currently in the lowest period of unemployment we have seen for 40 years. While this is excellent news for candidates, it means that many companies are struggling to recruit not just the right candidates but any candidates at all.

As a result many employers are taking what they can get – literally, even if they know straight away that this person is not right for the job or the business. The cost of hiring someone because there is a vacancy that needs filling urgently only accentuates the problem.

When the candidate doesn’t work out, it means investing more money on advertising the position as well as hr and the hiring managers time to go through the whole recruiting process again.

We understand that it might seem like the logical thing to do at the time, but it really is detrimental to your company in the long run, costing more money and time overall.

Hold off for the right candidate and you will not end up paying twice for the privilege.

3. Taking Too Long

One of the biggest mistakes hiring managers make in their process is taking too long to get back to interested candidates. The Balance report that the average time to hire is around 38 days – this is far too long considering the shortage of candidates in many sectors.

A job-seeker will probably have applied to a handful of positions in their initial job search – can you afford to be the last company that gets back to them? If you have legitimate reasons for taking more than a couple of weeks to get back to candidates, tell them there will be a delay.
Candidates appreciate honesty, and it stops them from wondering if they have been rejected without so much as a callback. They might be setting up more interviews in the time you are taking to reply, and are likely to accept an offer from a responsive employer.

Lack of communication is a problem which is so easy to solve, yet it can be so costly if done wrong.

4. Searching For a Unicorn

You want the very best candidate for the job, we understand. But is your search for a specific person and their talents causing you to reject hidden gems?

You might be delaying your search for a person that doesn’t exist. In recruiting we refer to these candidates as ‘unicorns’, and a hiring manager’s fixation on finding one could be to your company’s detriment.

If you haven’t captured the exact candidate that you want, take a look at the soft skills of the ones who have applied. Have any of the candidates got a strong track record of turning their hand at a variety of skills? Are they exceedingly bright?

A proven track record of the skills you desire might be your first choice, but in the skills-short job market we are currently in, now is the time to start looking to develop talent rather than pluck it out of the hiring process.

5. Ignoring Company Culture

Each time you have a vacancy that needs filling, this is a new opportunity for you to shape your company culture in the way you want. One of the main reasons people cite when deciding to leave their job is their relationship with co-workers. Do you have a harmonious workplace where everyone respects each other and gets along? Or are there often issues and disagreements?

If you are interviewing a candidate and they have a perfect set of skills, but they clearly would not get along with the rest of the staff, are they the best hire for the job?

Are you a hiring manager struggling to identify the best talent for your company? Clayton Recruitment is a trusted expert with 30 years of experience in the field. Get in touch with us today to take the stress out of boxing-off those hard-to-fill positions.

About Clayton Recruitment

Clayton Recruitment has been partnering with organisations across the country since 1989 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability.

With specialist divisions covering Commercial, Financial, Industrial, and Engineering appointments, on both a permanent and temporary basis. If you are looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

If you would like to download our latest interview checklist, you can do so here.