With so many job seekers in today’s job market it ought to be easy to find the right candidate for a role, but for some employers it can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily there are some sure fire ways that recruiters can ensure they end up hiring the right employee. From placing the job ad to extending an offer, here are top 5 tips to ensure your hiring success:

1 – Write the Right Job Ad
An attractive, articulate and descriptive advertisement will save you from trawling through piles of applicants that simply aren’t suitable for the position.

Thoroughly analyze the skills needed for the available position.
Describe exactly what you’re looking for in your ad.

Quite simply, make sure you attract candidates with the suitable skills for the role.

Hiring success also depends on you winning over your target group in the first place; a well-designed ad is the first step in attracting the right candidates:

Design attractive advertisements that showcase your company.
Include details of salary, bonuses, pensions, company car etc.
Make sure your brand image is up to scratch in order to win over the best applicants.

Well-designed job advertisements will attract you the right candidates and ultimately help you in hiring the right employee.

2 – Screen Applicants Effectively.
Reviewing resumes can be a time consuming task but it is important to assess them properly to make sure you end up hiring the right employee:

Avoid skimming information; take thorough note of all the facts.
Try to determine career patterns; are they likely to stay long-term?
Don’t be swayed by irrelevant information, such as their hometown or alumni.
Focus on what matters, i.e. skill sets, experience and education.

Essentially, pre screening helps you sort the wheat from the chaff and ultimately ensures you end up hiring the right employee for your company. Some employers use professional candidate screening to save time on this relatively lengthy part of the hiring process.

3 – An Effective Face-to-Face Interview.
After putting in the effort to attract, screen and invite your candidate for interview this is finally your chance to evaluate them for both their skills and their personality.

Prepare well-constructed questions that will extract useful information.
Try to ask open-ended questions and avoid ones with yes/no answers.
Actively listen to what your candidate is saying and take notes.
Consider your body language; avoid accidentally leading your candidate into an answer by nodding or otherwise.
Don’t make rash decisions and carefully consider your options before extending an offer.

An interview will only help you in hiring the right employee if it is well conducted, so do your research and ask questions that will help you effectively evaluate your candidate for both their skills and personality (avoid useless ‘behavioral’ questions like: What’s your favorite color?).

4 – Keep runners up in the know
It’s not easy task but letting your runners up know they didn’t get the job is a standard courtesy that shouldn’t be avoided. By thoughtfully letting candidates know your decision you not only help your employer image, but you may have just scored someone who would be happy to be contacted when a different position become available.

5 – Integrate Your New Employee
Hiring success doesn’t end the moment you extend your offer. Once you have found your ideal candidate it is up to you to make sure that they integrate and ultimately stay working for you:

Personally introduce your new employee to everyone, or at least their immediate team members.
Show your employee around, or pair them up with a buddy who will. Make sure they know where everything from the coffee machine to the restroom is.
Provide your employee with everything they need such as keys, a swipe card, office supplies etcetera.
Make sure you encourage your employee with constructive feedback within their first few weeks.

Least of all don’t just park your employee at a desk and expect them to get on with it. Being a new person isn’t easy and by helping your new employee integrate you can guarantee they will work better for you, and generally stay longer too. There are numerous ways to make sure you end up hiring the right employee but these top 5 tips will ensure you are on the right path to hiring success. What it ultimately boils down to is:

Attractive advertising.
Thorough pre-screening.
Effective interviewing.
Maintaining a good employer brand.
Comprehensive employee integration.

Some employers find that recruitment software can assist in effectively hiring the right employee. Professional software can help you compose and brand your ads, and efficient applicant tracking can quickly screen your applicants with pre-defined criteria. Once you have interviewed applicants you can easily accept or decline candidates, and even build your own candidate pool to ensure future hiring success. See the softgarden website for more.