Succeeding in recruitment has a positive impact on productivity, motivation, and the reputation of the company. How? Simply by hiring a new employee. Conversely, a casting error can have numerous consequences.
That's why it is crucial for the success of a company to know how to avoid recruitment mistakes.
In this article, we will give you 11 tips to avoid recruitment mistakes and ensure an effective and successful recruitment process.
1. The consequences of recruitment mistakes
As mentioned earlier, recruitment mistakes can have negative consequences on the overall performance of the company. Let's explore some of the most common consequences of a bad recruitment:
1.1 Financial costs
A bad recruitment can result in significant financial costs for a company. Recruitment, training, and replacing a poorly recruited employee can quickly accumulate costs.
If an employer decides to select a candidate lacking experience, it is almost certain that they will not be able to achieve the performance goals set for them. This will then require additional training to fill their gaps.
Avoiding mistakes helps reduce costs
Furthermore, if the candidate were to leave the company later on, the recruitment process would have to be repeated, resulting in additional costs in terms of time, energy, and resources.
1.2 Loss of team productivity and motivation
At the same time, recruitment mistakes can also affect the productivity and motivation of a team. The new employee may face certain problems, such as:
- Difficulty adapting to their role.
- Difficulty working with their team.
- Difficulty achieving their set goals.
Conversely, their arrival may also be poorly received by the members of their team, who are aware of the recruitment mistake that occurred. This could lead to:
- A decrease in their motivation and morale.
- A tense work environment.
- A decrease in job satisfaction.
In each case, a decrease in overall team productivity may be observed. There are, in fact, some tips for assessing a candidate's motivation.
1.3 Impact on company culture and reputation
Company culture and reputation have become central elements for many job applicants. After consulting a job offer, most candidates conduct research on the company.
Recruiting a new employee who does not align with the company's values, vision, and mission can have a real negative impact. This can lead to a loss of cohesion internally due to conflicts in values within teams.
A united team is a better guarantee of productivity
Externally, the termination of the trial period will result in a deterioration of turnover and brand image.
To ensure the long-term success of recruitment, it is necessary to avoid all of these issues, but to do so, it is important to understand their causes.
2. The causes of recruitment mistakes
Detecting recruitment mistakes and understanding them are two distinct things. Several factors can contribute to recruitment mistakes, and it is important to clearly identify them and manage them effectively to minimize risks.
2.1 Lack of clarity in defining the position and required skills
Recruitment involves numerous steps. However, the problem can arise right from the first step, which is defining the position. The lack of clarity during this process regarding the expectations for the desired profile and the required skills can lead to recruitment mistakes.
In this specific case, it will be much more difficult to find a person who truly matches the company's needs. The recruitment process could then be extended by a few weeks to a few months.
If the expectations were too ambitious, the candidate may still not be suitable
2.2 Errors in the candidate selection process
Regarding candidate selection, it is important to note that each recruiter and each candidate are different from one another. Since we are all influenced by cognitive biases, it is essential not to lack objectivity.
Let's imagine that a company recruits solely based on candidates' attitude during an interview, disregarding their actual skills. While this may work for positions that don't require any experience, it can prove to be a significant failure for others.
However, a recruitment mistake can also be caused by hasty decision-making due to deadlines imposed by the company.
2.3 Lack of communication and collaboration among recruitment stakeholders
Let's talk about communication. If candidates are not clearly informed about the recruitment process, job expectations, or working conditions, it often leads to misunderstandings and decisions based on incomplete information.
Communication is the key to success.
Conversely, a candidate may intentionally omit certain points from their resume or fail to mention negative behaviors during the interview. The lack of verification of candidates' references and backgrounds can then be a cause of recruitment errors.
Finally, the lack of communication with different collaborators can strongly impact the candidate's integration and push them to terminate the contract.
3. Best Practices to Avoid Recruitment Errors
Now that we understand the consequences and causes of recruitment errors, it's essential to prevent them with the following 11 tips:
- Identify prerequisites:
Take the time to detail the job description, clearly identifying the required skills, qualifications, and experiences for the position.
- Involve the right stakeholders:
To ensure successful recruitment, it's best to involve managers and team members in the recruitment process. As they are directly affected by the arrival of a new team member, they are best positioned to express their needs.
- Implement a rigorous and structured selection process:
It is crucial to establish a rigorous and structured selection process with objective criteria. Good organization often leads to successful recruitment. However, be cautious not to make the process too lengthy, as it may result in losing candidates.
Each stage of recruitment has its own importance in the process
- Write the job offer:
Once the job description is finalized, it enables you to write a job offer that aligns perfectly with your search. Candidates will then be better able to determine if the position suits them.
- Advertise the job offer (job boards and referrals):
After that, you should publish the job offer. While it is undoubtedly one of the oldest recruiting methods, it is important to avoid falling into the trap of banality. The future is at our doorstep, and we should utilize more innovative recruitment methods such as social media, job boards, or a careers website.
Additionally, employee referrals, known as cooptation, can be an effective approach. It involves informing current employees about a job opening, allowing them to recommend potential candidates. If successful, the referring employee receives a referral bonus.
Posting your ad then allows you to attract a wide range of qualified and unqualified candidates.
- Don't neglect soft skills:
The ideal candidate possesses both hard skills and soft skills. It would be a mistake to consider only hard skills when considering the importance of soft skills in recruitment.
Both should be evaluated through tests, such as interviews, professional situational assessments, or assessments.
However, there are many competency and personality assessment tools, unfortunately most of them require a physical presence like VR or are far from exciting like online questionnaires.
- Discover Yuzu, the specialized solution for managerial potential evaluation:
After several years of research and development with experts in work psychology and neuroscience, we have created Yuzu: a next-generation and gamified Assessment Center.
We immerse candidates in situations developed with the latest video game technologies. Each adventure assesses a specific skill within 10 to 20 minutes.
The simplified controls allow all profiles to be evaluated in an equitable manner.
Specialized in the evaluation of managerial potential, it is possible to evaluate these 3 behavioral skills with Yuzu:
- Adaptability.
- Problem solving.
- Stress management.
Candidates are evaluated according to their behavior and their choices within the modules. Benefits of the solution:
- An exceptional candidate experience to strengthen your employer brand.
- A solution accessible to all and from any computer (Cloud).
- A decision support tool to reduce cognitive biases.
We transform the assessment of soft skills into a memorable and enjoyable experience for your recruitment and internal mobility processes.
Discover the future of Assessment with Yuzu
- Reference checks should not be overlooked:
Coupled with such tools, it becomes easier to validate a candidate's information by checking their references and background. It is an excellent way to obtain a detailed and comprehensive report on a candidate.
- Emphasize onboarding:
During the recruitment process, many people neglect the onboarding of a new employee. However, it is crucial to pay attention to it by implementing an induction booklet, informational meetings, team-building sessions, or icebreakers to improve the atmosphere within the company and its various departments. A well-integrated candidate is more likely to stay in your company.
Good integration also promotes the company culture.
- Establishing Follow-up
At the same time, regular follow-up with new recruits should be conducted to ensure their integration and performance. This makes it easier to detect potential recruitment errors.
- Conducting review
Finally, thanks to this initial step, it will be possible to conduct post-recruitment assessments to identify successes and areas for improvement in your process.
Conclusion
It is necessary to face the fact that avoiding existing errors is a guarantee of success. Therefore, taking the time and making the necessary efforts must be essential missions. However, there are other tips for successful recruitment.
In this article, numerous practices have been presented to improve your human resources management during the recruitment process. While the primary goal is to ensure the success of your recruitment, it is certain that this will have positive effects on the company's sustainability and employer brand.
It is now up to companies to take action by understanding that the game is worth the candle.