Your hiring process is critical to the success of your business. Put the right people in the right roles, and they can help the organization thrive. Hire the wrong person, and it can lead to lost profits and productivity. Unfortunately, the latter is a common challenge for employers. When searching for the right candidate, it’s easy to be blinded by a desire to find a great fit fast. This rush can lead to a number of hiring mistakes that may seem like helpful shortcuts at first, but can hurt your organization in the long run.

That’s why it’s important to take your time, evaluate each candidate closely, and tailor your approach to work for you. To implement an effective hiring strategy, you may even want to enlist the help of a recruiter! Not sold? Here are four of the top hiring mistakes that hinder best practices and how working with the right recruitment firm can help you avoid them.

Only hiring for technical skills

It can be all too easy to see a resume that matches up perfectly with the job requirements and think you’ve found your hire. Seeing factors like the right experience and software skills can be enticing, but what about a candidate’s potential and culture fit within the organization? Overlooking essential skills like communication, leadership, and critical thinking is among one of the most common hiring mistakes.

Hiring for potential can broaden your talent pool and help you identify candidates with the intangible skills and qualities that make them a great long-term fit for the organization. At the same time, our research shows that professionals weigh company culture heavily when making career decisions. As a result, hiring a poor cultural fit can result in an unhappy employee and disappointed manager—leading you to re-start the hiring process much sooner than expected.

How recruiters can help

When a recruiter is contacted to assist in the hiring process, they will first conduct an interview with a variety of candidates—whether on the phone, via video chat, or in person. This typically involves an initial skills assessment and then a more in-depth conversation to evaluate their personality. After pre-screening any potential candidates, they will only submit those who they feel are the right fit on both these fronts.

Rushing your hiring process

Although you may have an immediate need, rushed hiring can sometimes turn out poorly for both the company and the candidate. You want to make sure you have enough time to properly get to know the candidate, ensure your expectations are aligned, and feel confident they’d be right for the job and organization before making your decision. This way, you can be sure that the candidate is truly the best fit.

How recruiters can help

If you need to find the best possible hire in a short period of time, recruiters are often able to expedite the process. Recruiters are constantly on the lookout for talent, so they may already have an arsenal of candidates in mind for you. Since all candidates have been previously vetted, this can reduce turnaround time drastically without reducing quality. With the sourcing and vetting process handled for you, this also means you can focus your efforts on interviewing candidates you know who already meet your needs—enabling you to make faster hiring decisions. Read also: How Working With A Recruitment Firm Can Streamline Your Hiring Process

Being too narrow in your search

One of the biggest hiring mistakes is not building a diverse pool of candidates. Unfortunately, study after study has shown that we are more likely to hire people we identify with. This lack of diversity can negatively impact organizations at all angles, including recruitment, customer engagement, and innovation and creativity.

How recruiters can help

Implementing changes to your hiring process to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce can be challenging. While you first must recognize your own internal biases and do the work to make your company feel more welcoming, a recruitment partner that specializes in D+I can serve as an additional resource. As an unbiased third party, they can help you identify your recruitment goals to ensure your internal hiring process is more inclusive. Read also: 4 Ways To Foster A More Diverse And Inclusive Workplace

Lacking transparency

From vague job descriptions to a lack of status updates, there are several hiring mistakes you can make when it comes to transparency during the hiring process. This can not only lead to a potentially bad hire, but can also make qualified candidates feel ill-prepared for the interview or confused about the hiring process.

How recruiters can help

Recruiters understand the critical role transparency plays in the candidate experience, and will work with you to build it into every stage of the hiring process. This starts by writing a well-rounded job description to attract the right type of candidate. Then, they will ensure each prospective hire is well-versed on your company’s history, mission and values, and culture. This information will help them feel more prepared for their interview with you—allowing you to spend your time on more important issues: determining the candidate’s fit and evaluating their skills. As you contemplate your hiring decision, your recruitment partner can keep the candidate warm by keeping them updated on where they stand in the hiring process.

Want to learn more about the process of working with a recruitment firm? Contact us today!