ASAP Services, LLC

Not all job openings are easy to match with a perfect placement. If you can’t afford to outsource the hiring the process of your future team member and you have to go candidate hunting yourself there are a few things you should be aware of during the application screenings that will help you save time.

So, you have an important position that must be filled within a certain timeframe, plenty of applicants are interested and have applied and now it’s time to begin the screening process to filter and pre-select. What should you not do?

According to 20-year veteran of the recruiting industry, Greg Rokos, here are the six most common mistakes recruiters and hiring managers make in the hiring process:

1. Select candidates with exaggerated resumes

Job seekers usually tend to over create their resumes by pointing out skills that they really don’t posses. In fact, 79% of surveyed business owners admitted they wrongfully hired a candidate with a skill set that did not match up with those specified on their resume. You should rely on assessments and screening tests to uncover resume impostors!

2. Ask the wrong questions

Interviewing experts suggest six maximum questions during an initial interview. Why? Sometimes interviewers can get carried away by their own curiosity, leading to longer conversations with the candidates. If you think about it, it’s not an ethical behaviour. At the end of your screenings, you will have candidates that had more time to chat than others.

3. Interview wrong personality types

Sometimes we insist on a candidate that after reviewing their resume and screening over the phone we were absolutely sure they were the perfect fit without meeting the person first. Don’t jump on a plane to meet this person yet! Video interviews are an excellent way to smell “bad egg” candidates.

4. Rely solely on the phone interview

The fact is, only 7% of non-verbal communication is depicted through tone of voice. So, do you really want to make a decision based on a phone conversation? You must try by all means to conduct an interview where you can actually see the person,  make it happen!

5. Not checking references

Take advantage of social media and professional communities such as LinkedIn! Recruiters and hiring managers should check LinkedIn for references and ask primary references for a secondary reference as they are more reliable and are less likely to have a bias.

4. Underestimate the overqualified

Yes, recruiters usually feel intimidated by overqualified candidates, there is a tendency to think that these candidates are unaffordable. But the truth is, hiring an overqualified candidate has more benefits rather than anything else, such as: they’re self-sufficient, easily managed and trained, they bring additional expertise, they have strong leadership roles, they’re goal oriented and accept new challenges without hesitation.