You’ve generated a fine group of qualified prospects. You’ve accepted applications, 
resumes and CV’s and it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty processes of your hiring systems.
What do you do now to create a higher level of success on both sides of the hiring table; for both your company and your prospective new hire?
There are some excellent tools and strategies that you can use to laser-focus your hiring efforts and create a much great opportunity for success in your hiring processes.
Let’s take a look at a few that can make your hiring processes much for efficient and effective:
- DISC Assessments – DISC is behavior assessment tool based on Dr. William Marston’s theories surrounding four primary personality traits. In its original application, DISC is an acronym for Dominance, Inducement, Submission and Compliance. More modernized versions of the DISC assessment have evolved the acronym into more descriptive and widely understood terms such as Decisive, Interactive, Stabilizing and Cautious. The DISC assessment generally requires a brief test where the prospect categorizes certain descriptive personality traits into priority lists and the data is then assessed to determine the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, communication and work styles and other information that can be extremely valuable in the hiring process. One modernized version of the DISC profile and assessment can be accessed at no charge through Jay Niblick’s What’s Your Genius web site.
- Skills Assessments – Let’s face it; anyone can say they have certain skills or are well-matched for the job, but how do you really know until you give your potential new hire an opportunity to prove they really have the skills? One way is through a skills assessment. A typical skills assessment will provide valuable information regarding not only the skills a prospective new hire has but also what they enjoy the most. Like the DISC, most skills assessment tests can be completed in 10-15 minutes and can provide important new insights into your prospects’ work style, habits and the skills they possess.
- Group Interviews – Group interviews can take two forms. One is a panel interview where several people from the company interview an individual candidate, discuss company culture, job description, ask interview questions and explore more deeply the skills of the prospective new hire. The other form of group interview is the candidate group interview wherein a group of prospective new hires vying for the same position are brought in at the same time to be interviewed by either an individual or a panel group from the company. Increasing numbers of companies are using group interviews as a means to make the time management process in hiring more efficient, to have an opportunity to compare candidates side-by-side in order to determine how they will respond in a group environment, and also to create a more teamwork-oriented approach to the hiring process.
- A “Trial Work Day” – Another common practice and one that can provide you with a real-time assessment of an employment candidate’s skills in the workplace is to offer potential new hire a paid trial day. Simply bring the prospect in to do the job for a day. You can evaluate their skills, their ability to interact with others and adapt to your corporate culture. An important note here is that a trial day should in most cases be a PAID work day. Otherwise, you may run into legal or liability ramifications that can come back to haunt you. Use a trial day to see if your new candidate truly is the right fit for your company.
By creating solid hiring systems, paying attention to the details of each step of your hiring process and having great tools working on your side, it is much easier to attract and hire the best potential employee candidates for your company. Happy Hiring!