Setting clear job expectations BEFORE you start recruiting ends up saving you a tremendous amount of time and hassles.
One of the keys to consistently making better hires time after time is knowing exactly which characteristics, attributes and skills you’re looking for and then making sure the candidate you ultimately hire has “it”. This requires a thorough knowledge of the position you’re hiring for.
Too often I see companies using outdated job descriptions in jobs ads and that leads to potential candidates and hiring managers focusing on irrelevant and unrelated criteria. And unfortunately that typically leads to bad hires.
First and foremost, it’s key that you have a good idea of which key skills and attributes will increase a potential hires chance for success. If you don’t already know, ask employees in your company who work closely with that position which skills or attributes they think are essential for success. During exit interviews ask departing employees what they felt made it easy for them to do well in their position if they’re leaving on good terms of course.
An updated job description is also must. Look over the job description. What are the key functions and duties the position performs? What key skills and attributes will facilitate that?
Does the person need to be organized?
Do they need to be detail orientated?
Do they need to be creative?
Do they need to be able to write code?
Once you’ve determined what key skills and attributes your ideal candidate will possess, I recommend placing your focus on finding candidates that have what you’re looking for. Your chances for finding employees who will perform well for you should be greatly improved.