When it comes to hiring new employees, your goal as a manager or small business owner is to weed out applicants that won’t be a good fit for the position and hone in on the top talent. The problem is, how do you determine this during the interview process? Beyond just that, once you decide who the ideal candidates are, what do you do to entice them to say yes to your job offer?
At IonTution, we help employers like you recruit top talent through unique student loan assistance benefits. Find out more below about how you can interview better and how you can seal the deal with the right benefits package.
Finding Talent During An Interview
During the interview process, your goal is to determine who is going to be an ideal fit for the position for which you are hiring. Being the right fit will require meeting an array of criteria. Some of the categories that you will be basing this upon including the following:
- Culture: Will this person be able to fit into your existing company culture? Will they contribute in a positive way to this culture?
- Skills: Will this candidate meet the skill set needed? Do they seem capable of learning extra skills they might not currently possess?
- Team: Do I see this person melding well with their proposed team? Do they come across as a quality team player?
As you go about sussing out these answers, keep in mind the following tips for building out your interview process.
Focus On Character Traits
One of the best things you can do when writing your interview questions is to think of ways you can get to know someone’s character. Find out if they are a positive or negative person. Determine whether or not they possess key traits, such as loyalty, integrity, and humility.
While you can’t outright ask someone, “Are you a loyal person?” you can find creative ways to determine these answers. Having a candidate share a story is a great way to do this. For example, perhaps you ask them to tell you about their favorite recent memory. The story they tell you will give you a lot of information about their values, what makes them tick, and can provide insight into their character.
Ask Questions That Reveal Reasoning Skills
There is perhaps no greater skill to have than the ability to analyze and reason at a high level. Work in questions into your interview that are geared toward determining how the candidate handles analytics and reasoning. Even if the job you are hiring for does not require pouring over data sets, analytical reasoning skills are a valuable tool.
With quality reasoning skills, an employee will be capable of figuring out day-to-day problems on their own. This is the type of person who won’t require their hand being held every step of the way. Present questions that might be out of the candidate’s wheelhouse. How do they respond? Do they simply take the approach of “I don’t know” with a shrug? Or do they explain ways they would find out the answer or how they would reason their way to a theory? Look for people who work on a problem rather than give up on it right away.
Ditch The Overused Questions
Let’s face it. How much information are you really getting from the classic “what are your greatest strengths” and “what are your greatest weaknesses” questions? While the idea behind these interview staples is good, the reality is that overused cliches of interview questions are something your candidate can simply prepare for and lacks true insight.
Try to focus on better and deeper questions that still get to the root of the same thing. For example, instead of asking about someone’s greatest weaknesses, ask a candidate about obstacles they have had to overcome in previous jobs. Ask them about situations where their own inadequacies in a job presented a problem. How did they handle that? This will be much better than hearing about how someone is too much of a perfectionist.
Inquire About Previous Jobs
There might be no greater insight than hearing about the way someone describes a previous job. Rather than simply glazing over previous employment, spend some time talking about each job on their resume. From determining why they left to what they most loved and hated about each position, you can quickly pick up on important patters.
For example, be wary of a candidate who found fault with other people at every job. If someone takes the victim mentality with every position they have held before, they are going to do the same with you. Conversely, if someone can discuss the positive learning experiences they gained at each position, they will look for the same with you.
Be Clear About Who You Are
Finally, an interview is just as much about a candidate determining whether or not your company is a good fit for them as it is about you deciding whether or not they make a good pick for the job. Make sure you are clear and upfront about your business, how you manage people, and what will be expected at the job.
Being honest about your company culture, how you operate, and what expectations will be placed upon the new hire will help ensure that anyone who accepts the job has a higher chance of sticking around for the long haul.
How To Get The Employee You Want To Accept
Once you find the ideal candidate, how do you seal the deal? Check out the following tips for helping your desired hire say yes:
- Make sure you are paying a fair wage
- Emphasize the perks of your company culture
- Provide a unique benefits package
Want to stand out from the rest and attract the top talent? Partner with us at IonTuition to offer your employees student loan assistance. With 81 percent of Millennial employees saying student loans impact their financial goals, this perk can help you attract and retain the top talent in your industry. Contact us today to learn more about adding student loan assistance to your employee benefits package.