How to Spot Bad Employees Before Hiring them

Human resource development was always a part of corporate activities, but it was never given much importance. For orthodox businessmen, the HR team was there to recruit new agents and maintain records.  But now the human resource team is one of the most important departments in an organization. HR managers are no more the custodians of recruitment and retention only. They are now donning the role of strategic performance managers. They are interested in hiring the best manpower they could possibly find, and ensure that each employee is given enough space to flex his muscles and work at the optimum level.

Bad hiring is like wrong business investments. Whenever there’s a bad hire, the company has to pay the price, either sooner or later. There’s no alternative to this. Therefore, it’s extremely important for the team of human resource development executives to check carefully before a potential candidate is offered a job. Given below are a few pointers, which can help the hirer when he or she recruits.

First impression needs to be the final impression

A regular corporate interview begins with an HR asking candidates to introduce themselves. The manner in which the candidates talk, conduct themselves and their overall behavior need to be monitored closely. If it seems that the candidate might have a problem with his/ her attitude, or is an individual who’s not ready to blend easily, no time should be wasted in rejecting the plea. Corporate environments demand  employee to work in team. Personal limitations can’t be allowed to thrive at any cost.

Ideally, a good employee should have a pleasing attitude. He/ she must be sober and soft-spoken, but pretty confident and clear with the answers. And most importantly, the candidate should be an inquisitive person. It’s always easy to teach new things to an employee who’s ready to learn things and pick up even minor instructions.

Willingness to join the company

A new hiring means, adding a new weapon to your arsenal. So it is important to judge the willingness of the employee to join that particular company. Applying for a job with a nice cover letter or a well furnished resume doesn’t reflect the true intense of an employee. It can be determined by –

  • Checking his/ her knowledge about the company. The intensity of the research shows the willingness of the candidate to join that company.
  • His/ her study about the job role offered. An employee who is keen to take an offer would see this as a new challenge and will study thoroughly before applying.
  • Ask candidate the reason why he. She chose this company. It is not always right that people say – ‘it is my dream company’. An employee who is motivated to join a company for growth, culture and values are more likely the right fit.

Past experiences are important to know

The most important part of any job interview is to study the experiences of an employee. As an employer, you need to know –

  • The role he/she played in past companies
  • How efficient he/she was with his job
  • How the candidate solved a similar problem, which might occur at your organization
  • Analyze him as a team player

Skills should talk more than him

Again, it is inevitable to say that skills are those parameters, for which an employee is hired. As an employer, you need to be assured about your new hire’s skill and expertise. In a technical job, it is quite easy to determine one’s required skill set but in a non-technical job, it can be tested through different tests.

  • Most common used technique is situational analysis of the candidate i.e. give a situation that is prevalent in the company and ask the candidate to solve it.
  • Written test – to determine the linguistic skills of an employee. This should be a common test for both technical and non-technical, because in a company communication is very important. So you need to make sure your new hire communicate properly within his team.

The number of conditions being put forth by a candidate

Every candidate is bound to have some expectations from the organization he/ she is interested to be a part of. But the conditions should be legitimate. There are some individuals who try to pressurize the management into accepting their own terms and conditions. And there have been instances when these types of candidates were recruited because they performed exceptionally well in the test, and comfortably went through each round. However, this might turn out to be a major hiring issue, if the candidate continues the same attitude down the line.

When working as an HR, you need to understand that a candidate can’t be hired only on grounds of the performance in the test or other skill-based rounds. He/ she might be a good candidate if left alone, but definitely not as a team player.

What are the short-term aims?

The corporate sector is sea of opportunities. If you have good skills and few years of experience, there will be enough employment opportunities for you. But there are also individuals who enjoy taking advantage of their positions. Some try to hop around from one company to another, trying to find something that might perfectly suit their tastes. They have short-term goals. An HR recruiter must be careful when dealing with these type of candidates.