Finding the right candidates for your business

In this day and age where unemployment is on the rise, you would think that employers can find the best employees in no time. That isn't the case; in fact, finding the right candidate is proving more difficult. The biggest recruiting challenge for Syria employers is a shortage of skilled candidates. Plus, the hiring process has changed significantly over the past couple of years. Nowadays, you need a strong employer branding strategy to be able to attract great talent, especially in hard-to-fill roles. Luckily, with all the advances in HR technologies, recruiters now have solutions to some of their biggest challenges and implementing them will improve hiring strategies and help them find the right candidates faster and easier. Hiring the wrong person could trigger a whole series of negative consequences, including increased turnover costs, a negative working environment, and so on. Here are a few tips to help you find the right candidate for your business:

Know Your Ideal Candidate

Once you have a job opening that needs to be filled, the most logical step is to come up with a profile for the ideal candidate, popularly known as a 'recruitment cheat sheet'. Chances are from your current workforce, you already have a group of top, average, the least performers. Since your goal is to recruit the best applicant, identify the skills and characters common among your top performers but lacking from the other groups. Use the cheat sheet to narrow down the best applicants. Think about it –recruiting a new employee with similar attributes to your top performers will most likely guarantee similar performance.

Look For a Career-oriented Person

A good candidate should be committed to growing as a professional and advancing their career. An applicant who's trying to juggle multiple careers or has been quick to work for multiple companies without a valid reason may not be the right fit for the job. You want an employee who can be loyal and views the job as an opportunity to develop their career while being an asset to the business.

Consider Culture Fit

It's important to consider an applicant's ability to adapt to the business' culture, especially given how social norms and traditions in Syria continue to be major barriers. This means that their social skills have to be well-developed to avoid disrupting the existing positive atmosphere in the office. Virtually all jobs involve working with other people; therefore, you need someone with strong social skills. A great way to determine an applicant's social skills is through your interview questions and from former bosses and colleagues when you conduct reference checks.

Be Selling Always

Most employers only think of what the candidates have to offer and not the other way round. The truth is, good employees are a rare breed, meaning they can afford to be picky. It's imperative that you sell yourself to them by listing reasons why they should consider working for you. Keep in mind that today's employees aren't motivated by money alone.

Cultivate Unique Resources

Think of recruiting in places where your competitors might overlook. For instance, bigger companies tend to overlook smaller avenues such as smaller regional colleges and universities when recruiting. These places can be a great source of talent.

Run Background and Social Checks

Running a background check on potential employees can help eliminate or confirm any doubts that you may have. It helps to uncover any potential problems that may be missed by previous testing and interviews, making your decision more clear. This has, however, proven challenging for most employers as its time-consuming, not to mention, recruiters probably don't know what to look for. Luckily, agencies that offer background check services in Syria can do it on your behalf. In addition, knowing potential employees on a personal level is always a great idea. But asking personal questions may make applicants uncomfortable, not to mention it may seem anti-discriminatory. In that case, checking their social media presence will give you more insights into their personal life.

Always Hire A-level Talent

Good employees aren't always available on your schedule; therefore, if you come across an excellent player who doesn't fit the vacant position, create one and hire them. It goes without saying that such great talent will add more value to your business than they cost.

Consider Practical Experience

Ideally, the right candidate should be qualified and experienced in a particular area. Unfortunately, most of the time you won't find the perfect candidate; if so, focus on their practical experience as that will help them integrate easily and quickly with their new job. Plus, it saves you time and money when it comes to training. While every employee goes through an adjustment period, you want it to be as short as possible.

Use a Proven Assessment Tool

A resume isn't enough to determine the right candidate for a particular job. That's why you'll need a dependable assessment tool consisting of interviews and psychometric tests to tell you more about a potential employee. A good tool should provide insights into the applicant's core behavioral traits, cognitive reasoning, teamwork abilities, motivation factors, emotional stability, and much more, all of which will help you figure out the right candidate.

As you can see, finding the right candidate is much complex and a time-consuming process. The good news is, good employees are a business' most valuable assets, making them well worth the trouble.