Recruiting new people is a huge commitment for any business. To make employment possible, entrepreneurs shoulder various costs like job posting fees, licensing for an applicant tracking system, and onboarding. And those are just the financial commitments.

Recruitment also involves investing your time, which includes the hours you (or your staff) spend in hiring, and how long it takes for you to actually recruit new staff.

Unfortunately, the process is sometimes made more challenging thanks to occasionally conflicting recommendations circulated out there. To help point you in the right direction, we debunk some of the common recruitment myths.

Myth #1: Every opening should be advertised externally

The next time you think about advertising a new job opening, consider that the best person for the job might already be in your company.

According to the Saratoga Institute (via Time Magazine), the average cost of hiring someone from outside a company is 1.7 times more than an internal hire. By hiring internally, you won’t have to:

• Publish paid job ads.
• Subscribe to resume databases.
• Spend for costly background checks.

Furthermore, promoting or hiring from within shows your employees that they have room to grow professionally in the company, and this boosts their morale.

Myth #2: Job hopping is bad

In research conducted by employment search engine Indeed (and reported by Silicon Republic), 65% of employers surveyed said they opted not to interview someone who has job-hopped.

Why? Probably because a series of short stints may indicate lack of focus, inconsistency and unpredictability.

But here’s the thing: context matters. A job hopper might actually be a scrapper who had to fight incredible odds. Remember that bad circumstances can result in positive transformation in people. Believe in post-traumatic growth; Regina Hartley – an HR executive at UPS – certainly does.

So at the very least, scrappers (particularly the qualified ones) deserve an interview.

Myth #3: Hire for smarts

Education and IQ isn’t everything. Case in point: Enron Corp. employed the brightest people. Its chief executive Jeffrey Skilling (a Harvard Business School alum) hired 250 MBA graduates every year and fired the lowest performers. The practice became known as “rank and yank“.

This cutthroat approach and unwavering focus on smarts certainly didn’t prevent Enron’s 2001 epic collapse, whose results are felt to this day.

To make better hiring decisions, consider a more balanced range of factors including:

• Experience
• Potential
• Hard and soft skills
• Cultural fit
• Personal traits

Myth #4: Candidates with no related experience should be ignored

When hiring for entry-level positions, companies will likely prefer applicants with field experience – like those who’ve had internships. Don’t fall into this trap; it limits your candidate pool.

Instead, look for candidates with transferable skills, which can be used in a range of roles or occupations. These include abilities such as:

• Verbal and written communication
• Time management
• Active listening
• Critical thinking
• Interpersonal relations

Watch out for candidates with a range of different experiences (e.g. student leader, sports, theatre). They usually have transferable skills that can add value to the role and your organisation as a whole.

Myth #5: The perfect candidate is out there

Don’t make the mistake of waiting for the perfect applicant who:

• Checks every requirement box;
• Passes your skills tests with flying colours; and
• Fits seamlessly in your company’s culture.

They probably don’t exist. And even if they did, they might be happily employed somewhere else.

Finding the right talent for your company is usually a balancing act between quality, cost, and time. But by practising intelligent, data-driven recruitment strategies, you can make it work.

Myth #6: Interviews will show you everything about a candidate

Interviewing candidates face-to-face or through video is an integral part of recruitment. That being said, interviews shouldn’t be your main deciding factor on whether you should hire someone.

Why? Because some people are really great at interviews, and they aren’t necessarily the best candidate for your open role. Remember that even veteran interviewers can make mistakes when determining talent and fit.

What’s key is looking at the data you’ve gathered (e.g. skills assessments, personality tests, background checks) in its entirety. The interview is just one part; you must take a holistic approach.

Besides, would you make a major business decision (like introducing a new service or selling off part of your company) in just a couple of hours of interviewing someone?

Myth #7: You should recruit only when you need new people

Your company might not always be hiring, but you should never stop recruiting top talent.

But what’s the point of doing this if you can’t hire them right now? Look at it this way: even if you don’t need to hire someone today, networking with a pool of quality candidates would enable you to hire a great talent when you need to – at minimal time.

This is important because having an unexpected job opening means two things:

• Your company’s output will decline.
• Your company will keep bleeding money until you normalise your output.

By continuously networking and recruiting, you ensure that you always have access to quality candidates.

Make recruitment easier

If you want to hire the best talent for your organisation, do it with Remote Workmate. We handle all the heavy lifting for you, including onboarding and payroll. This means finding the ideal hire becomes so much easier.

You can actually choose from our pool of top candidates right away. Simply visit our Hotlist at:
https://remoteworkmate.com/hotlist

You can browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page. Once you find a qualified VA, simply fill out the form at the bottom, and we’ll get in touch with you at the first opportunity.