Hiring during the new normal can be tricky and if you do not prepare it thoroughly, you may end up having a poor hiring process. There are plenty of spectrums to deem the hiring process as poor, but the main factor often roots in failing to prepare properly. Bad hiring practices do not only stain organizational image, but it also involves significant financial costs along the process.

As an HR leader, you are responsible to ensure a fair and effective hiring process that meets both talents and organizational needs. Here are some signs of a poor hiring process and how you can avoid them. 

Tedious Job Description

Poorly written job ads with irrelevant requirements can be the first sign of a poor hiring process. Instead of recycling old job postings, take the effort to update the job description. Make sure it contains brief, engaging, and precise information about the qualifications required for the position. Make sure you draw enough attention while not excluding candidates from a variety of industries. A thorough job description should help to rule out irrelevant resumes. Test your job posting with people you believe would be ideal for the position. You can email them the description and ask for comments. If they read the job description but do not find it interesting, it is time for a revamp.

Gender-biased Qualifications

Unless the position urgently requires someone from a particular gender, refrain from being too specific and using gender-biased terms. Small elements in job descriptions may be conveying subliminal messages about the gender recruiters perceive for a job. Poor hiring is marked by gender-biased qualifications. The first step in reducing bias is to recognize that it exists and then conduct “blind hiring” or gender-equal criteria in all recruiting processes. If this is too difficult, make use of some AI tools for recruitment. This can ensure that all qualified candidates are recognized and repress biases.

Read Also: 4 Ways to Reduce Unconscious Bias in a Hiring Process

Outdated Interview Practice

A poor hiring process also includes an interview that feels a lot like interrogation more than a professional interview. You will never learn about a candidate’s personality until you have a nice conversation. Try to avoid questions that introduce unconscious biases into your decision-making. Remove irrelevant inquiries that may not reveal anything about a candidate. Get rid of the monotonous script and start talking like genuine people trying to figure out whether they can work together. Encourage them to open up about what they are searching for in their future position and get them enthusiastic about this chance.

Not Checking for References

Negligent interviewer fails to verify references before making an offer. Are you one of them? References are your final check on a candidate’s previous job performances. If you ask candidates to provide these, do something about it. Just because they look good on the resume, it does not guarantee that their past performance was pleasant. This can also answer doubts evoked by employment gaps; their short employment may be a result of a previous company’s problem. Reference checks should be considered as a vital element of the interview process. It would be unprofessional if you retract an offer based on something discovered in a reference check only after you send the offer.

Ghosting Habit

Last but not least, do not nurture a ghosting habit; you call candidates for an interview and leave them no word at all after that. Before closing an interview, let candidates know what the following steps are. If you are still unable to make a hiring decision right away, inform candidates of the situation and when they might expect to hear from you. Although it is a common practice that rejection is certain if they do not hear from recruiters within two weeks, this should not be normalized. 

Once you have made your final decision, appreciate all of the applicants who applied. It needs effort, but it is worth it to ensure that your company has a good reputation in the industry. Make use of the AI tools that can send bulk email about rejection rather than leaving candidates ‘ghosted’. 

Poor hiring process can easily happen. However, it is not something to only be acknowledged and not solved. Carefully reassess all aspects of your hiring process, even something as small as dictions. Doing this may take up time, but it is surely better than ending up with bad hires due to a poor hiring process. 

Read Also: Bailing Candidates: How to Avoid Losing Top Talents