10 Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them in the Recruitment Process!

For recruiters, hiring the right person often involves going through a checklist of rights and wrongs. One mistake can cost the company a lot of money, and is often never brought to light or discussed. 

As one of the trusted IT staffing companies in Bangalore, we are here to share some common hiring mistakes employers make during the recruitment process. Avoid these common mistakes if you want a successful hiring decision!

10 Most Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

One recruitment mistake can cost your company a fortune. The leading IT recruitment consultants in Bangalore have listed out common recruitment mistakes to avoid if you want to recruit top candidates for your company:

1. Rushing the Hiring Process

A report by SHRM says, "A bad hire can cost 30% of that employee’s first-year earnings". While the recruitment process is time-consuming and you need to avoid potential delays in the hiring process, rushing it will cause you more harm than good. When you rush the process, you will be prone to making mistakes more often, which can hamper the overall recruitment process. This often leads to poorly executed decisions and higher turnover rates. 

Recommended: How To Improve Employee Satisfaction at Work

2. Not Preparing Interview Questions

Around 28% of interviewers have confessed that they’ve gone into candidate interviews unprepared. Showing up to the interview unprepared is one of the common interviewing mistakes managers make. This leaves a poor impression on the minds of candidates. To make the right hiring decision, you need to bring structure and a well-defined outline to the recruitment process. This leads to more effective hiring decisions and improves the reputation of your company.

3. Lack of Details in Job Description

Indeed has found that 52% of candidates said the job description influenced their decision to apply for the job. A detailed job description can streamline your hiring process by filtering out candidates who may not be the right person for the role. Vague job descriptions leave more room for assumptions and can cost you time and money. With a clear job description, you will be able to find the right person in no time.

4. Relying Too Much on the Resume

LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report (2019) says that, "92% of talent and hiring managers say that soft skills matter just as much or more than hard skills". While resumes can help you understand the candidate's hard skills, it does not provide you with essential details on other aspects of the candidate's profile. This includes qualities such as soft skills and alignment with company culture.

5. Overlooking the Importance of Background Checks

Forbes reports that, "70% of workers confess they have lied on their resumes". The lack of a proper background check can lead to hiring the wrong employee and eventually damage the company's reputation. To avoid this common mistake, you can speak to previous employees to understand more about the candidate's past behaviour, work, and character.

Read Also: How to Prevent Candidate Ghosting: Top Strategies for Recruiters

6. Too Many People in the Interview Process

To ensure fair hiring practices, it's a good idea to have multiple recruiters during the interview process. However, to avoid any disagreements or delays, the final hiring decision for the new employee should fall on one person. You can also avoid this recruitment mistake through full-cycle recruitment. This can make the hiring process smoother and help to save you time.

7. Evaluating Candidates Based on Unconscious Bias

A large field experiment found that men received 50% more callbacks than women in male-dominated roles, and women received over 40% fewer callbacks than men in female-dominated positions. Another one of the hiring mistakes to avoid is letting your unconscious bias influence your hiring decisions. Unconscious biases can come up unexpectedly, so that's why you should take a long time before you finalize the decision to choose the new hire.

8. Ignoring the Use of AI Tools and Technology

A LinkedIn report says that 67% of hiring managers and recruiters say AI has helped them save time during the hiring process. If you don't use the latest recruiting software and technology, you may end up taking much more time and might lose out on top talent who might take up another job offer due to the lengthy hiring process.\

AI-driven tools and technology can help you save time and money. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors and avoid wasting time on manual and tedious processes, you should avoid this common recruiting mistake.

9. Not Recruiting Based on Diversity and Inclusion

Forbes reports, "Employees who 'feel connected' to an inclusive culture are 3.7 times more likely to be engaged and make them 68% less likely to consider leaving the workspace". Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies in the recruitment process help to cultivate a positive work environment. It helps to bring different perspectives into one place and helps to create a space where everyone's ideas are valued. 

10. Not Focusing on Company Culture

Harvard Business Review says that, "Poor culture fit can be costly: hiring someone who clashes with your culture can cost 50–60% of that person’s annual salary in turnover-related expenses". Cultural fit is often important to create a collaborative environment within the workspace. To ensure that the candidate aligns with the company's culture, you can ask them a set of questions in the job interviews related to their work style and personal values. 

Read More: Top Signs of Good Company Culture - What Makes a Great Workplace

Conclusion

To attract candidates who are the most ideal fit for the role, you should avoid the common mistakes mentioned above in the blog. This will help you to hire smartly and more efficiently.