Intro
- Part 1 – Do You Need to Hire At All?
- Part 2 – Writing a Job Post That Works
- Part 3 – Reviewing and Filtering Applications
- Part 4 – Testing and Interviewing Candidates
- Part 5 – Review: Choosing the One
Congratulations, you’ve reached the ultimate phase.
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It’s time to examine all the observations you’ve documented in your evaluation and tracking spreadsheet and select the candidate you’ll present the position to…
Provided there’s someone who meets your standards!
If all goes well, you’ll have exceptional candidates to select from, and the most challenging aspect will be choosing just one to employ.
However, if none truly fulfill your requirements, never hesitate to decline all of them and conduct another round of assessment/testing/interviewing.
Despite potentially not wanting to invest additional time in the hiring process or conduct more interviews, making an incorrect decision now will cost you significantly more time, energy, and money over the long term.
Reviewing Your Interview Notes and Scoring
Return to your interview notes and assign scores for each essential section.
Note: Check out the resources linked below for an example interview scoring sheet you can utilize.
Having asked all candidates identical core questions, you can maintain a fair scoring approach for their responses.
This proves particularly valuable with scenario-based questions. You can score them from 1 to 5, with 1 being poor, 3 being acceptable, and 5 being excellent. Alternatively, you can maintain the simple approach of “Not Good Enough, Good Enough, and Great” that you used during initial application scoring.
Either method works fine and will provide a straightforward numerical score for candidate comparison and decision-making guidance.
Calculate total scores and identify your top 1-3 candidates based on highest scores.
Evaluating Your Top Candidates
How do you feel about the prospect of hiring each of the top three?
Ideally, you’ll feel positive about all three. However, one will typically stand out as your preferred choice.
Review all the notes you’ve compiled about each candidate and search for anything particularly impressive or concerning. Are there any points you noted to address that you’re not comfortable with yet?
If details are missing or you’d like clarification on certain aspects, I recommend contacting them to ask any questions you have. I’d always prefer making a fully informed decision rather than making assumptions that may prove incorrect.
Ensuring Fair Scoring
If you scored each candidate during individual interviews, compare the scores and verify that you weren’t excessively harsh or generous with the first or final interviews.
When interviewing your first candidate, you lack comparison standards. Conducting this review after completing all interviews helps ensure you’ve scored them against consistent baselines.
To accomplish this, review candidate answers and see if you still agree with your assigned scores. If not, adjust until it feels appropriate.
Making the Final Decision
If the candidate you feel best about appears in the top three, that’s excellent. Check the others to ensure you’re not missing anything, then trust your instinct.
If they haven’t appeared in the top three, ask yourself why. What have you overlooked? Perhaps they were really likeable, but they simply didn’t answer questions as effectively as other candidates?
This is where you need to balance how much you liked them with your ability to work with them and their capability to actually perform the job you need.
This represents a significant decision.
Once I’ve identified the top candidate I plan to offer to, I’ll typically take at least 24 hours before making an offer. While we all want to move quickly, I find that sleeping on something helps me check if there’s anything else I should investigate or confirms that I’m feeling good about my decision.
Crafting Your Offer
Once you’ve chosen the person you want to hire, take some time to consider the offer you’re going to make to them.
Consider these questions:
- What’s important to them?
- What are their salary expectations?
- Did they mention anything that was really important to them? Can you make a small effort to make your offer even more compelling and meaningful to them?
Create an offer that will hopefully appeal to them based on what they’ve said is important to them, while ensuring it still works for you too.
Elements to Include in Your Offer
- Salary and payment frequency
- Paid holidays
- Paid sick leave
- Training opportunities
- Benefits/Perks
When considering paid holidays, one key consideration is that public holidays vary between different countries, so decide whether you’re going to offer paid public holidays at all.
I find it’s often simpler to stick to a set number of paid days off. Then they can choose to work their public holidays or take them off as they wish.
You don’t need to have all this mapped out in advance. You can always discuss it with them and figure out what’s important to them on the call.
Making the Offer
Arrange a call to discuss the offer with them, making sure you let them know how pleased you are with the process, how they came across, and how much you’re looking forward to working with them. While on the call, you’ll also need to discuss the start date so you can both agree on when they’ll begin.
While you might be eager for them to start immediately, you may have work to do so that everything is ready for them to start. Consider giving yourself a few days to be fully prepared for their start and onboarding even if they’re available immediately.
Key Takeaways
- Trust your systematic scoring process while also listening to your instincts
- Don’t be afraid to restart if no candidate truly fits your needs
- Take time to make the final decision – sleep on it if needed
- Craft personalized offers based on what candidates value most
- Allow adequate time for proper onboarding preparation
- Remember that this decision will impact your business significantly
The hiring process culminates in this crucial moment of choice, but the real work begins once your new team member starts. By following this systematic approach, you’ve maximized your chances of finding the right person for your role and your business.
