Time to burst the bubble…there is no such thing as a perfect hire. The reality is people have strengths and weaknesses. They will make mistakes. They will have experience or knowledge in one subject or system but may lack in another. Now, before everyone stops reading this article, there is hope. There are things you can and should do to help improve your odds.

As a manager, it is critical that you invest in the process. I used to argue with Randy Karnes all the time about hiring. He held the position that hiring was a 50/50 chance of success. My agreement was that it could be a 70/30 if the manager invested in the process. What do I mean by investment?

First, define what a successful candidate looks like. This means assessing what skills you really need. We want them all, but some skills are critical. This is a really important one, because it is almost impossible at times to find candidates that have every skill we need. Some skills are easily trained, and others are not. Be open to training those skills that are not critical.

Second, be honest about the culture, both from the team and the company perspective. The book Good to Great by James C. Collins talks about getting people in the right seat on the bus. I would take that a step further and say, sometimes we put on the wrong bus altogether. Your culture is not right for everyone. Understanding and explaining the good and bad to candidates helps you both make a decision that is right for all.

Finally, be honest about your management style. We all like to think that we are not micromanagers, that we are friendly and easy to get along with, but are you? Hiring someone under the perception that you are not a micromanager and then finding out that you are is a sure-fire way to make a wrong hiring decision.

Interviewing tips to find the perfect candidate 

With all that said, that is only a piece of the pie. The next piece, and in my opinion the most important piece, is your interview process. If you want to get to my 70% match, you are going to need to invest in what that process looks like. Start with these basics:

First, listen carefully to every response. Don’t be so busy thinking about what you’re going to ask next that you don’t hear what they are saying. Take brief notes; don’t write down everything they say. More important is to use the notes as reminders to you of what they said so that you can ask follow-up questions.

Also, don’t sell the job to the candidates before you know they are the ones you want. I find this to be something that happens all too often. We go into the interview ready to ask questions. We sit down and proceed to tell the candidate everything about the job, what we are looking for, and all our expectations. Things like “I want a very detail-oriented person who is a self-starter and not afraid to ask questions.”

Then we ask our first question: Tell me about yourself. The candidate says, “Well, I consider myself a self-starter with strong attention to detail, and I am not afraid to ask questions.” Next thing you know, the manager is hiring the person without really getting to know them. After all, they said they were everything I wanted to hire.

It’s also important to come to your interview prepared with a list of good, strong behavioral questions that will help you understand how your candidate will react to various situations that they may encounter in the role. Behavioral-based questions should help you assess patterns of past behaviors, which are the best indicator for future behaviors.

Remember, you are not looking for perfect answers; you are looking for repeated behaviors, both good and bad, to help you make an informed decision. Make sure you get to the root of the solution. Everyone makes mistakes; how we handle them is often times far more valuable. To that end, focus on attitude and aptitude. In the Leadership IQ study led by Mark Murphy, author of Hiring for Attitude, he found that 89% of hiring failures were because of attitude or behavior rather than technical skills. Now that doesn’t mean ignoring the technical requirements, just make sure it isn’t the sole basis for your interview.

If a candidate gives you an answer that is vague, ask follow-up questions. How? Why? What? When? Where? Don’t be afraid to ask several questions as a follow-up to get the information you need to understand what the candidate’s truest response is for the situation.

Furthermore, be cautious of halos and horns. What does that mean? Simply, you meet some people, and you just connect. We tend to put a halo on them right away. We fail to ask the tough probing questions. Or vice versa, you meet them and automatically decide you’re not interested. Maybe they have tattoos or piercings, and you are against them, even though company policy allows it. So you ask a couple of questions, don’t dig in and really get to know them, and then miss an opportunity to hire someone really great. If you really like a candidate, ask yourself why. What support do you have for that feeling?

Finally, trust your gut. If you have invested in the process, asked good questions, and your gut is telling you this isn’t your candidate, trust it; you have the evidence to support your reaction. In the same Leadership IQ Study, by author Mark Murphy, it was also found that 82% of hiring managers later said there had been some warning signs during the interview.

Making the final call

Once you have completed your interview, it is time to make that decision. Hopefully a candidate will rise to the top of your pile. That will find the right skills, attitude, and aptitude to make the best decision. But remember there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. You also will need to decide what skills you can teach, train, and who will fit best in the culture. Consider the following to help you make your decision:

1. Create a ratings scale for your interview. Outline the specific technical skills, attitude, and aptitude skills and rate your candidates.
2. Do multiple interviews. It is hard to spend only a few minutes with someone to really understand if they are going to fit in with you and your team.  A second interview may be needed to break a tie or to just answer questions that you are uncertain about.
3. Consider having your team meet your top candidates. Allow them to ask some questions. See how the candidate responds and reacts to your team.

Using all these tools will not hire the perfect candidate, but it will help you improve your chances of making the best possible hire. Hire people for their strengths, attitude, and aptitude. Ensure that they understand the company, team, and your management style, warts and all.

Listen carefully and let the process help you make a great hire, but know that even if you pick the best candidate, your investment once you hire them is as important as the road you took to get here.