7 Pro Tips: How to Hire the Best Employees

Pro Tip #1:

Let Technology Do the Heavy Lifting

Sometimes, when hiring a new employee, going with your “gut instinct” can be your initial approach. The absence of a job-related and data driven technology enabled assessment during the hiring process is a notorious mistake made by hiring managers today. The advantages of using well developed and automated selection tools while hiring can help eliminate the possibility of rejecting the right candidates and hiring the wrong ones. 

"While technology does the 'heavy lifting,' hiring managers can accurately, and reliably predict a candidate's likelihood of on-the-job success." – Joe Smith, CEO at HireNow.com

With the company’s time and resources focused on ONLY candidates who have been “pre-qualified,” via the use of such tools, hiring costs are cut, and achieving ROI on your company’s most important investment, your employees – is achieved.

Pro Tip #2:

Spend the Time to Create the RIGHT Job Description

Those who ask, shall receive – as the saying goes. Organizations that fail to conduct thorough analysis of the job and competencies necessary to fit with and succeed in that role, will often fail to attract the right candidates. A written description identifying a job by title, essential functions and requirements – a well-crafted description also spelling out the knowledge, abilities and skills required to perform a job successfully will in the end attract those most eligible. These additional descriptions can also be extremely helpful with employee training and career development. Also, once effective job descriptions are crafted, business owners can be more effective at reporting relationships and working conditions in their business communities.

                                                           Pro Tip # 3:

                                                           Evaluate the WHOLE Person

Most carpenters live by the saying, “Measure twice, cut once.” Although, most hiring managers are dealing with stacks of resumes, rather than lumber –  they should live by the same principals. While the extra work and time used to assess, or measure the aspects related to a future candidate's potential success in a role can instigate neglect during hiring – the payoff is far greater than the possibility of re-hiring. A selection process that addresses as many critical job competencies as possible during review will result in identifying the right candidate – the first time. 

Pro Tip #4:

Use Job Simulation

It’s a manager’s nightmare. The candidate they’ve recently hired who had the perfect resume, an exceptional interview, and flawless list of references –  is sitting at their new desk confused and can’t perform the daily assignments they are "qualified" for. What’s next? Find a new role for them to fill within the company, or cut your loses.

"Seeing what candidates can do and how they react in real-life job situations is more accurate than asking candidates to describe their particular skills during an interview." – Mary Rogers, HR and Recruitment Director at HireNow.com

To avoid this headache – by measuring a candidate’s skills at performing necessary functions of the job beforehand, you will examine their aptitude for learning, critical thinking, verbal, numerical and logical reasoning. Personality tools can also help determine if the applicant’s personality, motivation, or typical behavior tendencies are suited for the job. Having the desired skills and abilities to perform, doesn’t always matter. Personal characteristics play an equally significant role.

Pro Tip #5:

Where to Recruit Employees

Use an online recruiting process –  PERIOD. When focusing your search online, the effort is more cost-effective, easier to manage, and leads to higher quality candidates than using the more common approach of employee referrals, job fairs and print advertisements. Not only do hiring managers benefit from eliminating the paper trail, but everything pertaining to a particular candidate is stored and easily accessible. But, those applicants who have successfully applied online are demonstrating the most important information of all –  they’re computer and technology literate. By taking the actions to conduct a job search, compose a resume, apply online and correspond through email –  they’ve automatically screened out applicants who do not meet a minimum level of skills with a computer.

Pro Tip #6:

Hire the RIGHT Supervisor 

If companies want to get hiring right, they also need to hire the right supervisor. Recruiters and hiring managers should accurately manage candidate expectations about the job, attract the right types of candidates, and proceed upon a shared understanding regarding what to look for in attempting to hire the best candidate for the job. 

Pro Tip #7:

Test Your Hiring Process

Talent selection is viewed upon by most hiring managers as a “necessary evil” –  looked at as merely a series of steps through which candidates must pass, or boxes that must be checked off, in order to eventually fill open positions. Ineffective talent selection systems can become embedded in an organization, simply, because “we’ve always done it this way.” The process should be an evolving one. Hiring managers should constantly review and improve over time as jobs change, organizations change, candidates change and cultures change. Regular and continuous research should be conducted to analyze the quality of hiring resulting from the selection process itself and to identify opportunities to improve the talent selection system. 


– What is your Pro Tip for hiring the best candidate? Please submit your tip in the comment section below.

All information compiled in this blog post was gathered from "How to Measure Contact Center Skills Using Multimedia Simulations." – compiled by FurstPerson.

To read the full text and discover more solutions that help candidates find a job they will love and enable clients to hire people that will perform well, be satisfied, and stay with the company – visit www.furstperson.com.


Hire Furst, Hire Right – FurstPerson