Editor’s note: Paul Kirch is CEO of Actus Sales Intelligence, a Fort Worth, Texas, business and sales consulting agency, and Actus-360, a technology services providor. He can be reached at 214-295-6111 or at pkirch@actussales.com.
Finding the perfect fit for your firm can be a challenge, especially if you don’t dig deep during the interviewing process. After all, a résumé or CV may provide an overview of work history but it rarely paints a complete picture of the person you’re looking to add to your team. Fortunately, there are many great resources for exploring a candidate’s true capabilities. It requires a little homework but it’s definitely worth the effort.
Considering the cost implications of a bad hire, it is critical that due diligence be exercised to ensure a high likelihood of success. (Notice I didn’t say “guarantee of success.”) The key is to minimize the chances of hiring a bad fit or an underperformer. There are several areas to consider when looking at a new candidate. Ignoring or skipping any of these could lead to bringing someone on who won’t fit your company needs.
Résumé or CV
While a critical tool for relaying experience and qualifications, a résumé can be misleading or misrepresentative of a candidate’s work history. From blatant fabrication to an overuse of vague descriptions, we’ve seen résumés that painted a less-than-true picture. Even a résumé that is 100 percent accurate may lead to invalid assumptions. Fact-checking and verifying are crucial during the interview and after.
I’m separating this from other social media activity, as it has become synonymous with a professional profile. Assuming your candidate has a profile, look at their work history. Does it match the documentation they provided? How many connections do they have? Assuming you’re in a business where networking skills would be important for the role, you’d expect to see a sizeable network of connections. Review the entire profile and make sure that the information you find matches what you expect to see. If you can’t find them on LinkedIn, what does that tell you?
Note: Verify that it’s the correct profile. We had a candidate who had a fairly common name who was almost eliminated because another person in his same city had a similar background, which made his résumé appear to be starkly different.
References
Always check references. Don’t assume that a reference will only provide a glowing recommendation.
Criminal background checks
A criminal background check should be part of any hiring process. I don’t necessarily believe that negative results should be used to eliminate a candidate but anything you find that doesn’t match an application or other credentials should be questioned.
Other background checks
Most people have skeletons in their closet and in the digital age, it’s easy to find out what some of those are. Bankruptcy and wage garnishment are issues that can haunt candidates who might otherwise be a fit. This doesn’t mean that they can’t do the job but as a hiring manager, you need to know who you’re hiring and what their financial situation is. If you find something questionable during such checks, I recommend discussing it with the candidate to understand what led to the issues in question.
Non-reference checks
Checking references is one thing but what about leveraging your own network to get feedback? Do you have a mutual connection on LinkedIn you can speak with? This doesn’t mean that any negative feedback should be fully accepted (or ignored) but it definitely helps provide a broader view of the candidate.
Salary history
Verifying salary history is an important step, especially if you’re prepared to make an offer that is much higher than what they’ve previously earned. An individual who is used to working hard to earn $75,000 (including commission) might find himself less motivated to work as hard while receiving a base salary of $100,000. This is not a golden rule but it’s something to consider.
You must outline the offer and understand what you’re willing to do to bring that person on. There’s generally room to negotiate, so knowing what you can offer will help make the process run smoothly. Remember, not all negotiating is about financials. Offering a better title is often incentive enough to create a win-win scenario.
Get comfortable
During the interview process, it’s important to get comfortable with the candidate. For sales positions, we expect candidates to be good at asking questions and listening. Can they tell effective stories? When you ask about their work history, how do they tie everything together? I treat interviews like sales calls. I want to make sure that I feel they handle me as they would a client.
Give them the opportunity to talk and not just answer questions. What kinds of questions do they ask you? If they have very few or their questions are not strong, probe further to ensure that they can do the job.
An established culture
Being qualified for a role doesn’t guarantee success and it most certainly does not ensure a fit within an organization. Today, most companies have an established culture, defined by the people who work there. I’m not suggesting you hire clones of your current staff but anyone who seems to clash with your team during hiring is likely to clash even more so when on board. Imagine hiring someone who turns out to be a strong producer but who leaves because they didn’t feel they fit in culturally – it’s a blow to the organization.
No matter what, don’t ignore your gut feeling. If everything inside you is telling you not to hire them, don’t! I’ve seen managers ignore bad reference checks, bad feedback from former managers and a multitude of other pieces of information that should have told them “This is not the right candidate.” As I stated previously, I don’t always feel those elements should be deal-breakers but if it gets that little voice in your head talking, you should probably listen.
Look at the infrastructure
Once you’ve done the work to ensure that you’re bringing on someone who will be a good fit, it’s time to look at the infrastructure you have in place for their success. Stay tuned for Part II next month!
Let us help you get started with your own set of questions. For a copy of our interviewONE Top 20 Creative Interview Questions, e-mail me at pkirch@actussales.com.