In the U.S, the average company spends approximately $ 4000 to recruit a candidate and the average process of recruitment takes about 52 days. Thus organizations are adopting recruitment trends that make the hiring process cost and time effective, plus there is a growing demand to invest in candidates who are in for the long haul and contribute to the vision and mission of the company. A good candidate vetting process can help in hiring quality candidates and goes a long way in creating an efficient and fair recruitment strategy.
It might save time to hire a candidate without vetting or with an incomplete vetting process, but in reality, extensive vetting ends up saving a massive amount of recruitment time. Also, it is more likely that you would hire a candidate who is not a good fit for a role when your company’s employment vetting process is inadequate or lacking. There’s a good chance that a misfit hire would discontinue their job when their experience does not match the job requirement or their personality is at odds with the company’s work culture.
To recruit candidates who are a great fit in terms of the job role and the company, the vetting process needs to be crafted with the job requirements in mind. So it is pivotal to understand how to vet candidates, how to vet them during an interview, and how to go about evaluating the new recruits. For example, IT staffing companies evaluate a candidate’s personality traits, aspirations as much as their tech skills that would make them an ideal fit for the job.
Applicant Vetting Process
The first stage of vetting begins with receiving job applications from aspirants wanting to work for your organization. In this stage, recruiters conduct extensive vetting by evaluating the cover letters, resumes, and portfolios received from the aspirants.
While evaluating the candidate, the recruiter must find a balance in meeting the functional needs of the job and the recruitment realities of the level of the candidates you are able to attract for the job posting. There are various factors such as the job location, company’s reputation, and the compensation being offered that would determine the kind of candidates applying for the job.
It is pivotal to focus on the candidate’s skills that would allow them to meet the job requirements, the personality traits, and experience that would make them a good fit for the job role. While competency gets priority over “being a good fit”, we must remember that a candidate that can’t fit into the company’s culture and functioning may leave the job prematurely. This is widely seen in the IT industry where technological changes and advancements are common, thus IT staffing companies take a lot of precautions to meet the fit and requirement of the company.
Any leading IT staffing agency will evaluate applicants by giving them a technical assignment/ questionnaire to complete, usually in a time frame of 1-2 days. This helps in verifying the skill level of the applicants and you can utilize your interview time to focus on the candidates who make the cut. You can analyze the applicant’s submitted documents against factors such as minimum job requirements, qualities, and skill set. Crucial questions that need to be answered are what attributes would make the candidate a right fit and also what would make the candidate a bad fit for the job role.
Interview Evaluation Process
The interview is where you will be able to find out whether the candidate lives up to the credentials provided on the cover letter, portfolio, and resume.
Confidence is a great quality in a candidate, but confidence does not always equate to competence. The candidate’s attributes should be judged based on their job responsibilities, for example – recruitment consultants do not assess a candidate for assertive or leadership qualities if the job does not require the candidate to possess these attributes.
It is a good idea to devote some time to understanding personality traits, aspirations, and the character of the candidate, as it will help understand if the candidate would be a fit for the company. Hiring a candidate who matches the background and personality of the current workforce might be an ideal scenario, but seeking out people with different interests and backgrounds can be a great way to add diversity to the team.
While interview time can be used to check the candidate’s technical knowledge, however technical tasks or activities can be sent to the candidate to complete after the interview, this would save up on interview time where you can find out more and get to know the candidate. The post-interview assignment can help verify the skills of the candidate.
Let’s look at some questions that job placement agencies use to identify and discover potential candidates during an interview:
- Is the candidate able to justify the skills and experience outlined in their resume?
- Can the candidate comfortably answer technical questions? Is the candidate nervous or does the candidate lack knowledge?
- Is the candidate able to establish the knowledge of required skills from past job experiences?
- Is the current job requirement is a good fit for the career path of the candidate?
- Will the candidate be able to work cohesively with the managers and team members?
- Does the candidate make any discriminatory references or remarks?
Vetting New Recruits
img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-1218″ src=”https://mrccconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/shutterstock_767180761-1.jpg” alt=”Vetting New Recruits” width=”500″ height=”334″ />
Before hiring any candidates the recruiter must complete all the vetting processes. Background checks are the last steps to verify the candidate’s credentials and background. It is important to follow a uniform process for evaluating candidates across various positions. This ensures a transparent and efficient recruitment process that would represent the organization’s ethics and brand value.
Let’s look at some questions that ensure the new recruit is qualified:
- Has the new hire passed drug tests and background checks as required by the organization?
- Did the candidate provide a valid employment history and references?
- Does the candidate have valid certifications to prove qualifications and skills?
- Does the employment contract have all the job responsibilities listed out?
