Recruiting Employees - Avoid These 4 Mistakes

As an executive recruiter, one of the questions I'm most often asked is "what should I consider when recruiting employees?" This question requires an answer because it's a fundamental part of your duty as an employer. Here's what you will learn to do differently when recruiting employees:

What you will find to do differently: When you are trying to recruit new employees, you have a lot of options. You can use traditional methods of advertising (new newspaper ads, classified ads, posting flyers) or you can go the "old school" route and post your open position (sometimes known as a job description). Recruiting new employees will require a change in the way you communicate with current and potential candidates. Recruitment is a very direct process. It requires you to make yourself (the hiring manager) and the new employee (the candidate) very clear about what the expectations are. Communicating clearly about the job description and job requirements will make it easier for both parties to understand what is expected of them.

What you won't do differently: You will continue to use traditional methods of recruiting employees, including classifieds, newspaper ads, job analysis, and phone interviews. When you are recruiting new employees, these methods may be enough. However, for the larger job analysis or other important strategic communication activities, you will likely want to consider some of the following suggestions.

What you will do differently: One of the biggest mistakes you can make is hiring a candidate without doing a thorough job interview. There are many reasons why this can be a mistake. The biggest reason is that hiring someone without a full understanding of his or her job requirements increases the odds that the new employee will be ineffective at the position. Effective hiring means that you take the time to understand what the new candidate needs to know and also understand what the company expects from each of the new hire's tasks. This means that you understand the type of skills or competencies you need from your new employee. This will also mean that you will have a better chance of hiring someone who can truly help your company to improve.

What you won't do: You will also continue to make the same old mistakes in terms of the hiring process for the job analysis and other recruiting efforts. Instead of spending the time to understand your ideal employee, you instead spend the time to hire the right person. If you continue to use a generic recruiting strategy and a generic employee, the chance is you will be hiring the wrong candidate. Instead of recruiting a person with the right skill or talent, you could end up recruiting someone with an inflated salary figure, poor customer service skills, and a history of poor performance.

Finally, there is another mistake you should avoid when it comes to the recruitment and hiring of employees through the use of social media. You must remember that while the internet has opened up many opportunities for companies to save money by conducting their recruiting and hiring activities online, it also presents many new and unique risks. Companies that conduct their business through the employment of social media may be taking advantage of some of the new challenges that are posed by the internet and may not have enough experience or expertise to assess the risks involved in the new environment of social media and the way that candidates may use this medium.