You already know that every candidate has more to them than their resumes show. A CV can capture a snapshot of a person’s professional career but rarely shows the true potential that a candidate could bring to your team. Each person you consider and hire, brings skills, values, intelligence, and knowledge to your team. How can you hire for the potential that’s not on the resume to ensure a top-notch employee every time?
Look Beyond the Resume for Better Job Potential
Personality is one of the things you should look at that has nothing to do with the resume. As you’re interviewing the candidate, try to get to know them as people, if you can. The reason why is that you should try to ensure a cultural fit but also a team fit. You don’t want to hire someone who is going to tear down the team or create problems organizationally. Placing one wrong employee into a well-functioning team can cause huge dysfunction. Ask yourself if this person will enhance the culture and workflows of the team or disrupt them?
Find out about the person’s goals and aspirations. Where do they want their career to go? What types of teams do they like to work in? How do they like to be managed? Is this a candidate that you feel is highly trainable and therefore able and willing to be promoted from within? Look for candidates that you believe are not a flight risk. This is especially important if you’re putting energy into training them. Where do they see themselves in the next three years?
How savvy is the candidate about learning new technology? This is important because technology is changing very quickly these days. Seek out candidates that have a track record of learning new skills and picking up new tools so that you can be sure they will adapt to any new processes you put in place.
Think about the candidate’s potential. They may not have the managerial experience you want, but they should be willing to learn it on the job or take training classes to hone their skills. Or, does the job list a master’s degree as a candidate requirement, but you’re not certain the lack of that credential would impede their progress? What traits does the candidate bring that could overcome some of these missing pieces? Are they energetic, organized, and responsible? Do they have a track record of “owning it?” Are these characteristics more important than hard skills which can be taught and improved upon?
The point here is that people make up more than the credentials and experiences that exist on a resume. If your organization can create a hiring process that gets to know their candidates, you will stand a better chance of finding the right fit that can grow with your organization.
The key to candidate tracking lies at the heart of Exelare’s mission.
We provide our clients with the best-in-class applicant tracking software that organizes workflows and information in a way that aids your decision-making during the hiring process. Find out why we’re different and how we can help you find the right candidates for your teams.
