There are a lot of different factors that go into creating a great workplace. It’s not just about having competent people to be able to do a job or about creating professional looking invoices with FreshBooks to impress your customers and get paid– having a great workplace means creating a fantastic company culture.
To create a company culture that promotes productivity and positivity, you need to be able to look at more than just someone’s skills listed on a resume. Creating a great company culture starts with hiring the right people. Here are some common hiring mistakes to avoid when trying to do just that.
Not Enough Diversity
Diversity and inclusion aren’t just buzzwords that have permeated the business world; they’re the proof of a paradigm shift in the way we look at hiring people and conducting business. To be able to succeed in a global community, businesses need to hire employees with different experiences to create a diverse culture and valued perspectives within the organization. It’s no longer enough to have a great product or service; you need to be able to prove that your organization is forward-thinking and inclusive.
This shift toward prioritizing diversity and inclusion will result in more women in leadership roles, as well as more marginalized groups who are often subjected to unconscious biases in the hiring process given a seat at the table. Businesses can help incorporate more diversity and inclusion by using blind screening processes, standardization, and automation.
Focusing on Credentials
On a resume, an Ivy League education or impressive certifications often create a shiny object, catching a hiring manager’s attention and leaving them blind to other things. While these things are impressive considerations when hiring someone, they aren’t the be all end all.
A hiring manager needs to look beyond credentials and consider how they fit into the bigger picture. You may interview someone with all of the right skills and initials after their name whose personality won’t work with the majority of their team. Alternatively, you may overlook someone who has less impressive credentials but an incredible attitude that would take your business to new heights.
It’s important to consider the whole person and not to be awe-struck by an impressive education. Lots of people are able to graduate from a university program; let’s see how it translates into action.
Ignoring Your Instincts
While it’s important to use standardization and automation to prevent unconscious biases, that doesn’t mean you should ignore your gut reaction to a person. You might meet someone during the interview process that you instantly spark a connection with and feel as though they’d fit really well on your team. Alternatively, you may meet someone who is perfect on paper but doesn’t seem to mesh personality-wise.
If you experience these instinctive reactions, it’s important not to jump to conclusions. If you struggle with making a decision based on your instincts, consider having another interview with a different group of panel members. This will give you a wider range of input, as well as give you another chance to assess the situation.
Hiring with the Short-Term in Mind
One of the biggest mistakes hiring managers make is hiring someone with the short-term in mind. Even if it’s a three-month term position over the summer, hiring managers should still think of that person as a member of the team and consider how their presence will impact the organization in the long run.
Think about how things work in business. You may be hiring a student to fill a short-term position while someone is on medical leave. In many cases, the person may be off longer than expected, extending the term. Alternatively, another position may open that the student is eligible for. Rather than going through the hiring process again, if the person you’ve hired fits well within the organization, it makes sense to offer them the job. If they do their term and leave, they may come back again in the future, avoiding the hiring process once more.
The key takeaway is that hiring managers need to make long-term decisions and look at the bigger picture when hiring, no matter what the terms of the position.
Not Getting Team Feedback
While having an entire team sit in on an interview isn’t always possible or appropriate, it’s important to ask for their advice and feedback when working to fill a position. Ask members of the team what they think would be helpful in terms of experience and skills to fill the open position. Ask what challenges they have faced in the past, and what was handled really well.
Not only does this approach help hiring managers to find the right person for the job, but it also gives current employees a voice, creating a culture of empowerment and value.
Your operations might be the brains of the business, and the sales team might be the heart, but the overall culture is the soul of your business. Finding the right people to work together to create a culture where people want to grow and succeed is the key to running a long-lasting, successful organization.