Most people looking for a job today understand that it is a tough market. There are more people looking for work than there is work. What many people don’t realize is that this is also an extremely taxing time for those hiring. It seems that today, companies have forgotten about proper hiring practices and this has left employers bombarded with hundreds of applicants and faced with the daunting task of having to weed through a pile of desperate resumes consisting of both under and overqualified applicants.

If you find yourself hiring new employees or planning to hire than you understand what I am talking about. Unfortunately, based on current substandard hiring practices there is a very good chance that you won’t find the employee you are looking for. Even if they applied, your quick overview of the hundreds of resumes you collected makes it very likely that you will glaze right over your perfect candidate buried in a mess of all the wrong candidates. The good news is that it does not have to be this way. Remembering a few simple and effective hiring practices could save you a lot of trouble. My observation of dozens of companies currently hiring, in almost every industry, boils down to three mistakes that they are making but could easily avoid.

You may find this article is a lot more matter-a-fact than most of my articles but, in all honesty, sometimes simplicity and getting right to the point is what we need. This is an important topic and I believe that we need to examine it with extreme attention. If you are hiring you have the opportunity to really grow your company based on who you hire, and making the wrong choice or trying to cut corners is never a good option. My next article will talk about how to reexamine your thoughts on hiring, and how you can set your company apart by attracting and motivating the perfect candidate without having to weed through all the clutter. For now, let’s look at three poor hiring practices that are setting up companies for failure with their next hire.

1. Companies hiring are too greedy
Now, I am not talking about the 1% versus the 99%, or any other sort of social or political agenda. By “too greedy”, I mean that most business hiring today (large or small) believe that they will find the perfect candidate at a bargain rate. They think that they hold all the cards and anyone would be happy just to have a job. The problem with this approach is that by undervaluing your open position, you end up with:
(a) Hundreds of under-qualified applicants to weed through
(b) Employees, who may be qualified, but who are underinvested in your company, seeing their new (underpaid) job as temporary until they can (and they will) find something better.

2. Companies hiring are lazy with their hiring advertisements
Many companies are not taking the time to build a proper hiring advertisement, they keep their listings vague, believing that simply announcing that they are hiring will be enough to attract top talent. However, without clearly defining the job opportunity, duties, requirements, and pay, job seekers are left with little information to go on when applying. This is a dangerous hiring practice because it leaves both employer and candidate frustrated. Many employers are finding this out the hard way and wasting large amounts of time interviewing people who end up not being interested in the position once they get the details that they should have had upfront.

3. Companies hiring have unrealistic expectations
This is especially the case with small business’ hiring practices. They believe that because they have an entrepreneurial outlook on life that their employees should too. I can’t tell you how often I hear small businesses talk about their frustration that both employees and/or a prospective candidate won’t take ownership (mentally) of the business. The bottom line is that employees looking for work are not looking to take a risk; they are looking for a steady job. Trying to attract top talent with future dreams of success but a poor starting salary or commission is simply not going to resonate with an employee who just wants to put food on their table.