Going deeper than the job description to find the best fit for the job!

Last week, we went over a few of my favorite pre-screening tricks that help me narrow down the best candidate for the vacant role. Today, I want to take a minute to reiterate the need to look beyond a person’s resume. As hiring managers, we often get extremely caught up in making sure that candidates are checking off all of the boxes that are listed before us. The skills and expectations that are taken from the job description that was sent down from corporate. You know the ones I am talking about!

Unfortunately, this can cause an extreme injustice to not only the candidates, but also to the department and peers with which the chosen person will work.  It is not only our responsibility to find someone that can perform well in the role, but also someone that will fit in with the department culture and that will work well with the people they will need to interact with to complete their job duties well.

Sadly, I have spoken to many candidates that are EXCELLENT fits within an organization, but are quickly looked over due to some minor qualifications missing from their background. The worst part is, that most of the qualifications have been those that can be quickly learned on the job.

So, I ask you, where is the disconnect? Are we too busy to train on the skills that help with performance and therefore willing to get a less likable employee just to cover all of the skill needs from the start? Have we lost touch with the need of a happy and healthy work culture, that we forget about the other aspects of what makes a candidate a good fit?

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Let’s be the change that HR needs to see!