People make up an organization. And especially in small businesses or start-ups where members of the organization work closely with one another – getting the right people could mean the difference between failure and success.
Finding the right person for the right job is an important step for any company. Depending on the nature of the position, hiring the wrong people would not only have serious financial and legal implications but also long-term effects such as the reputation of the company. It could be detrimental to team synergy – affecting morale and productivity – and in the worst situations cause entire operations to grind to a halt.
Although it’s impossible to completely screen every candidate thoroughly and avoid hiring bad employees it is still important (perhaps even more so) that proper steps be taken to minimize the problem, even with the current manpower crunch in effect. Here are some of the best strategies to employ to keep those errors from happening:
“If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them.”
– Jack Welch
How to avoid hiring bad employees:
Be clear about job roles and descriptions.
There’s no worse way to communicate a bad impression to a potential candidate or mislead them into thinking they were signing up for something entirely different than a scratchily written job description. Over-written job descriptions could be counterproductive as well. Depending on the type of job it may be best to keep the language simple and company jargon out.
Double-check the credentials of your chosen candidate.
Like a smooth-talker, candidates may or may not be entirely truthful during an interview. Many will simply say what you want to hear. Others would have practiced the art of the ‘proper interview’. Test a candidate and see if he/she can really walk-the-talk – and whenever possible give them a day or two to demonstrate their technical skills in a trial run. Engaging a labour supplier in Singapore will facilitate this step for you.
“Your nose just grew a bit…”
“No, it did not!”
“There it goes again…”
Personally seek out the right candidate.
Attend meetups such as business networking parties, interest groups, volunteer organizations. Even getting friendly with the passenger sitting next to you on an international flight (as one Japanese CEO did on a flight did before he offered me a job) is an excellent way to candidly ‘interview’ someone. You might also make a new best friend while you’re at it.
Your personal friends are also great sources for new hires, if not the best. When you find a potential candidate, identify their strengths keep tabs on them. When a suitable position needs to be filled you already have a potential candidate. Your best friends certainly would want you to avoid hiring bad employees.
Make use of your employee’s networks.
Smart people tend to hang out with smart people, and chances they know other smart candidates that would make a fine addition to your company.
Communicate that need to this employee – the kind of candidate you’re looking for and the required skill sets. You could also set aside a small budget for your employee to use when entertaining potential candidates and explaining the company to them.
Determine the candidate’s level of commitment.
Find out how committed to job and company a candidate will be. Candidates that are serious would’ve spent extra time getting to know the company and reading through the job description a few times over and understanding every aspect of it. Enquire into their personal motivations: how they identify with the company, its objectives, its place in the market, and culture.
A good foreign worker agency can help you avoid hiring bad employees. Get in touch with Multiway Employment Pte Ltd for the right candidate, always.
