What NOT to Do When Applying or Hiring for a Job

Photo by Francisco Moreno on Unsplash

Re-Published From My Blog, Next Gen Today.

Finding the right company or employee fit can be a dizzying process for a job seeker and hiring manager. According to Forbes, nearly half of Millennials plan to leave their job within 2 years, reflecting low job satisfaction that in some ways could have been predicted during the application and interviewing process. On the other hand, nearly three-fourths of employers say they’ve made the wrong hiring decision for a role, which affects a company’s bottom line in the tune of nearly $15,000 lost for every bad hire.

Given that applicants and hiring managers would mutually benefit from taking steps to find the right fit, here are common mistakes to avoid from both angles:

Applicants:

• Not Checking Online Reviews. For anyone that has read a Yelp review, we all know that it is often those who are the most dissatisfied who put pen to paper. However, with some companies actively encouraging positive reviews following exit interviews and unhappy former employees afraid of being linked to a negative review, company review sites are often more balanced or even skewed towards the positive. If you find poor ratings or substandard reviews on a site like Glassdoor, that could be a major red flag, particularly for a smaller company.
• Not Looking at the Staff List. As mentioned in my previous post, job applicants, and especially Millennials and Gen-Z, are invested in workplace diversity. When companies have a staff list available, this can be an opportunity for applicants to see whether what a company says about diversity meets the rubber. And for those who care about career advancement opportunities, take a look at the titles of younger employees to see whether there are some in high-ranking positions.
• Not Asking Effective Interview Questions. Even the slightest changes in how you ask questions to an interviewer can tell you substantially more about the company and whether it’s a good fit. Instead of asking them what they like most about working there, ask them what distinguishes the company from past places they’ve worked. Instead of asking how your role might change over your time there or whether there are career pathing opportunities, ask how the position you’re applying for has changed over time. These small changes to common questions can give you a better sense of what to expect.

Hiring Managers:

• Requiring Experience in a Specific Industry. It is quite common to see job applications that specifically require experience in that industry. This can be a big mistake. A Morning Consult survey found that 61% of US job seekers are interested in jobs in a new industry. By requiring industry experience, hiring managers are neglecting to consider many applicants who may have requisite skills and attributes that would make them an ideal fit for the position. Take a marketing role at a sports organization, for instance. They should not require a background working in the sports industry. Not only can marketing experience in other industries be perfectly relevant, but if all sports organizations required this, it would be impossible for someone to even pick up that industry experience elsewhere.
• A Non-Inclusive Application. Job applications run the gamut from being welcoming and inclusive to detailing unnecessary requirements and being perceived as narrow-minded. When crafting an application, consider what might prevent an otherwise strong candidate from applying. For example, is a GPA requirement really necessary? There are many reasons people excel or struggle in school, some of which are completely irrelevant to how they would perform in a role. To remove this bias, provide a simulation for all applicants that allows them to showcase their skills on a relevant job task. Additionally, companies should ask for all applicants’ preferred pronouns in the application to ensure that all people can feel welcomed and encouraged to apply.
• Equating Nerves in an Interview with an Inability to Perform the Job. A recent survey from JDP found that 93% of job candidates have felt anxious in an interview. Despite this, the first words you often hear from a hiring manager after an interview is whether the applicant appeared nervous or confident. Some people simply tend to be nervous interviewers, and while unfortunate, this should not get in the way of the substance of their answers. Hiring managers would be wise to select a candidate who is nervous but has substantive answers over a candidate who is confident with poor answers.

Each of these mistakes is not only detrimental to finding the right fit, but are also easy to avoid.

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Originally published at http://nextgentoday.wordpress.com on November 21, 2020.