How to Weed Out Unqualified Candidates

According to a survey by Monster, 85% of recruiters say that candidates exaggerate skills and competencies on their resumes. How often have you heard candidates say they are proficient in a skill but you later come to find out they know almost nothing about it? Maybe you have even done this yourself! The biggest mistake you can make as a hiring manager is hiring the wrong candidate for a position. In fact, the average cost of one bad hire is nearly $15,000. That’s a costly mistake. The key is to identify the unqualified candidate before hiring them. Here are 4 tips you can use to weed out unqualified candidates:

Take the time to prescreen your candidates before they even get in the interview. Get them on the phone and talk to them. It’s also useful to send them a survey or personality test before the interview to get a feel for who they are. You can also require a skills test post-interview to really see if they actually possess the skills they claim they have.

Don’t feel rushed into making a hire. Yes, we all have deadlines and sometime there is great urgency to fill a position. What’s more worth it?Making a fast hire and then having them leave after 2 months or taking a little longer to hire but finding a great fit that will take your company forward? Have multiple rounds of interviews involving other members of your team or decision makers. It’s easier to make a right decision when you have multiple sets of eyes.

One of the most effective ways to see who a worker really is, is to check their references. Many references are former bosses or coworkers. They will give you a better idea of how qualified the candidate is for the position. Prepare the right questions to ask when calling candidate’s references so that you get all the information you need.

Don’t settle for ok when you can get the best. Referencing the earlier point, many hiring managers are forced into hiring the first decent candidate because of time constraints or other pressures. Don’t let yourself get dragged into a rushed decision because of external forces. When you are rushed, it can be easy to overlook lack of skills or other things in a candidate and rationalize that it will be ok. Don’t cheat yourself or your company by hiring a quick fix because in the long-term you may come to regret the decision to hire unqualified candidates.