Is your company having trouble recruiting new job candidates? Are you repeating job searches? Are your candidates all being rejected by hiring managers?

If this is the case, recruiting specialist Lou Adler has some advice.

First off, he says, don’t repeat job searches. Doing them one time is enough. If you have three for four good candidates, one of them should get the job. If not, there are other problems to consider.

If these kinds of things are happening, there is usually a problem somewhere else that is causing them. For example, the problem could be that hiring managers are not really sure exactly what they are looking for, or how to find the right person. One way to solve this problem is to use performance profiles, rather than just job descriptions, Adler says.

Another problem might be that the candidates are not being interviewed properly and this is leading to rejections.

There may even be larger problems that are causing these recruiting failures. For example, your company is looking for a person with qualifications that just don’t exist. The company itself doesn’t have the best reputation as a good place to work, or the company is not paying a competitive salary. These types of problems need to be tackled at the executive level.
You also may be taking the wrong approach to the situation, searching for candidates as if there is an abundance of talent, when in fact there is a shortage.

Your company needs to keep track of its hiring ratio – the number of candidates interviewed to the number of candidates hired. This ratio should be around four to one, Adler says. If it starts going higher, your company has a problem, and it needs to be looked at to find out why.

One quick way to reduce this hiring ratio, Adler says, is to withhold judgments on candidates for at least 30 minutes during the interview, because it is within these first 30 minutes that most hiring decision mistakes are made, he says.

We all make snap judgments on people – research has shown that it can happen within the first few seconds of meeting someone. In an interview, if a candidate initially comes across as articulate, professional and energetic, the interviewer might easily decide this person is a viable candidate, without even being aware of whether the person has the required skills, education or experience.

Conversely, if someone initially comes across as a little hesitant, a little unsure, the person might be immediately dismissed as a viable candidate, even though he or she may have exactly the skills and experience needed for the job.

By withholding judgment for those 30 minutes, the interviewer gives himself or herself the chance to make a more knowledgeable, informed decision.

If you’re looking for help in interviewing – perhaps you need someone to handle the preliminary interviews and screening for you – look to Winston Resources. We can help your Manhattan-area screen and vet candidates efficiently and cost effectively. Contact us today.