All companies and businesses wish for the perfect candidate. Unfortunately, this wish remains a dream for many. Most recruiters and hiring managers are excellent at fitting eligibility criteria for job descriptions, but fail to find the company’s perfect fit. While this should not be an uphill task, most people cannot identify the best candidate for the job profile. After sifting through dozens of job applications, resumes, cover letters, portfolios, and presentations, it can be challenging for recruiters and hiring managers to even remember why they started the hiring drive in the first place.
Sorting through hundreds of resumes and job applications can get nerve-wracking, and the right candidate might just slip through the cracks. Sometimes it is effortless to reject candidates, but there is often a deciding factor or vote that is taken in favor of a particular candidate. Some may meet all the qualifications and yet fail to impress you, and some might seem too good to be true.
At such times how will you tell if the candidate in front of you is the best one for your posted job role?
Let us help you with this issue. Here are 5 signs that will tell you the candidate in front of you is the right one.
Adaptable:
While most recruiters presume the candidate in front of them has read the job description upside down, many candidates still disappoint. When interviewing a candidate, it is best to throw in some random questions to see how well the candidate adapts to an unforeseen circumstance. Most recruiters have a set number or type of questions that they ask all candidates. Usually, the candidate who answers these most favorably is selected.
However, asking a non-standard question will force the candidate to think on his/ her feet and answer honestly without any preparation or practice. Adapting to unexpected issues, problems, and circumstances with quick wisdom and clarity is the need of the hour for most companies.
Suppose the candidate can develop innovative solutions to the questions or issues that you ask. In that case, there is an excellent chance that this candidate will adapt to change and a dynamic environment quite quickly.
Admit To Making Mistakes:
Admitting to mistakes takes a lot of courage, especially in a job interview. Most people have a fear of being judged for their mistakes. While this is a valid and logical emotion, recruiters and hiring managers should understand that making mistakes is a natural human tendency. No one becomes the best in the world without making mistakes.
If the candidate being interviewed can admit to mistakes and take responsibility for them, that is a candidate worth selecting. Most people do not accept making mistakes and try extremely hard to cover up or blame others for their shortcomings. A right job candidate will not only admit to making past mistakes, but he/ she should be able to explain what they learned from those mistakes and how to avoid them in the future.
This behavior will tell you that the candidate in front of you will not hide or repeat mistakes and instead will own up to them and help the company or business find a solution.
Don’t Decide Alone:
As with all decisions taken in any business, you should ensure the candidate also has a secondary interview with a manager or someone in a senior position. This senior could be the manager or boss that the candidate will report to directly. After conducting the initial round of interviews, if you do find a suitable candidate, arrange for a panel interview, or a one-on one with another manager.
The reason for doing this is that the candidate will have to adapt to stress and extra scrutiny. It will also give the immediate manager or boss a chance to vet the candidate personally. Feedback from senior managers and others will help you narrow your recruitment process to ensure you hire the perfect candidate each time.
Another added advantage is that you can view others interview processing skills and imbibe some of these into your own technique.
Perfect Interview Flow:
If the candidate has made it to the interview on time (online or face to face), they would have done all their primary homework and (maybe) answered all your questions perfectly too. However, one of the best ways to judge an excellent candidate is whether they take the initiative to carry the interview forward and make it a discussion. Candidates who do not treat interviews as interviews but instead help convert them into conversations and meetings are the right fit.
A natural back and forth between the hiring manager and candidate with both sides asking relevant questions and seeking honest answers is the right way to take a discussion forward.
If the interview starts feeling more like a natural conversation instead of interrogation, then you should definitely hire the candidate in front of you.
Quality of Questions Asked:
As a recruiter or hiring manager, you should always invite questions from the candidate towards the end of the interview. Narcissistic candidates always ask questions which show them in a better light. You should instinctively understand how to reject these candidates. However, some candidates ask genuinely relevant questions that can add to the job position and description.
If you find yourself facing a candidate that engages you with the questions asked, you could be looking at a winning candidate. Gauge their ability to ask these questions, and filter their responses against information freely available online and on the company website.
Questions related to internal growth, team building activities, performance based reviews, and so on are not easily available on the internet, and can be considered highly relevant.
Remember, just hiring a candidate because they have the correct educational and work background will not get you the right fit. More often than not, it is the personal cues, questions, and the ability to adapt and put people at ease that makes the candidate a right fit.
