The time to avoiding hiring mistakes begins long before a Salt Lake recruiter has collected resumes and interviewed candidates for your company. A few key objectives to making a good hiring decision is to understand the position, conduct an “audition” of the prospective talent or candidate and then taking the time needed to confirm you’ve made a good hiring decision. Finally, if the fit isn’t right, it’s important to move quickly to rectify it.

Utah companies should start by looking at the job vacancy that needs to filled. It doesn’t matter if the executive recruiter is filling a recently vacated position or is starting from scratch, anytime you need to find a new team member, it is important to define the job. You’ll need that before you can find the right person. When the job is accurately defined–including important elements like performance objectives, required skills, education and other requirements specific to the position–the likelihood of a miss-hire is greatly reduced.

Depending upon the position, hiring by audition might be a great way for both candidate and the Salt Lake City recruiter to determine whether they are the perfect match for the job. This is a great way to assess the quality of the candidate’s results. Auditioning means the candidate actually works for the organization for some period of time and is paid for by the organization as a consultant for a few hours, several days or for a few weeks. This is the audition and it gives both time to see if the job fit is best for both.

Another audition model is to have the candidate work at night or on the weekends if they are currently employed and cannot audition during normal working hours. At the end of the audition trial period, the Utah employment agency will then be able to see real-time performance. The candidate will also get a better feel for the position.

Any interview with a professional recruiting service in Salt Lake can be a potential minefield for hiring mistakes. First impressions can often be deceiving, yet most hiring decisions made by Utah staffing agencies are heavily influenced in the first 30 seconds of the interview. Thirty seconds is an extremely short period of time. Most people don’t get beyond small talk in the first 30 seconds. A more permanent well-informed decision usually takes at least 30 minutes, which is still a short amount of time to make an educated hiring decision.

Choosing to have a candidate audition for the job is a good way to take the time needed to determine if the job is a good fit. It’s a good idea to delay making any type of decision–whether to grant a second interview or hire the candidate–for enough time to make a well-thought out decision.

Despite the best hiring processes, mistakes can and do happen. To make sure you are on the right track with the new hire, it is important to regularly assess new hires for the first 45 to 90 days. Get feedback from co-workers, team members and colleagues to help make a complete assessment. If the feedback indicates that the candidate and the job is not working out, take corrective action as soon as possible. First steps in the corrective process include additional on-boarding, mentoring or, if necessary, termination. The worst hiring mistake is keeping an employee that isn’t working out. If the assessments point to a mismatch, it is best for both the company and the new hire to move on.

If you are ready to fill a position with your Utah company and would like professional recruiting assistance, call Recruiting Connection at 801-278-1200 for your complimentary consultation. Our team of recruiting experts will help set you up for success!