Are Expectations for Candidates Too High?
Posted November 19, 2013 & filed under Hiring Resources
Most companies, at some point or another, have had to endure a long term vacancy. The position in question is usually integral to critical business, giving hiring managers more than enough reasons to tread carefully to avoid a bad hire. Yet as the days and weeks go by and the position itself goes unfilled, questions should start to arise in any hiring manager’s mind: are expectations for potential candidates too high?
First and foremost, a hiring manager needs to remain practical during the hiring process. When drafting the requirements for an internal position, he or she should leave no stone unturned when compiling and listing the complete interpersonal and technical skills that an ideal candidate would possess. That being said, he or she should also be able to differentiate between an ideal or perfect candidate and an exemplary, real-world one.
Hiring managers often feel a perfect candidate should encapsulate everything a company could possibly need by:
• Anticipating challenges before they become pressing
• Possessing near omniscient technical knowledge
• Acting with infallibility across projects.
Though a strong candidate may have some overlap with this ideal, a perfect candidate is ultimately a fantasy. When a hiring manager deems that fantasy employee is the only acceptable person to fill a position, it is little wonder that positions remain open.
To avoid falling into this trap, a hiring manager needs to be objective about the importance of each skill. After listing out the requirements, break them down into the three categories:
• Skills that are used at least once a day
• Skills that are used at least once a week
• Skills that are used at least once a month
Obviously, the daily skills are those skills that should be indivisible from a potential candidate. Any skills that fall into the weekly category should be a requirement that can ultimately be budged on if a position remains open for too long. Anything that is only used once a month should always fall into the nice to have category and should never deter employers from hiring an otherwise exemplary candidate. A candidate that will do well in a position will be able to learn anything that requires weekly or monthly use anyway, so a strong person will not be lacking in those talents for too long.
by James Walsh
