When you post a job opening, you might be surprised to find a large pool of experienced, skilled applicants eager to work with your company. This is especially true in an age when most candidates have much more than a college degree and a couple of prior positions on their resume. Applicants who boast self-directed learning, entrepreneurial pursuits, side projects and other professional experiences can bring unique perspectives and value to your organization, thus making it difficult to sort through your options and choose the right person for the job.
While this is a good problem to have, you'll need to think carefully and strategically about how to solve it. To help you, we asked 14 members of Forbes Human Resources Council which factors you should consider when choosing between several stand-out job candidates.
1. A Data-Driven Scorecard
Make a balanced scorecard of the most important candidate attributes required for success in the job. Make sure interviews and other data gathering are designed to evaluate these attributes. Require a realistic job preview/assessment. Pose a typical problem that the candidate will need to handle and ask each candidate to make a presentation to a peer group, including asking realistic questions. - Joyce Maroney, Kronos Incorporated
2. Alignment With Values
More and more companies are recognizing that their company values can and should be a key factor in the selection process, helping to make choices between candidates. This is because our values are created to spell out what behaviors are required to help our company succeed, so it's important to use them to help your employees and business be set up to achieve this. - Debra Corey, Reward Gateway
3. Passion For The Company
High-quality candidates have more than one opportunity. You want to make sure the candidate you secure, is passionate about your business and committed to making your company better. A candidate who is passionate about the business will deliver more than an equally qualified person whose passion really lies elsewhere. - Karla Reffold, BeecherMadden
4. A Record Of Progressive Learning
When deciding between two or more candidates with similar skill sets for a position, consider which one fits the company culture while adding something new. Do they have any unique traits or characteristics that would help them excel in this position or grow into others? Does one have a better record of progressive learning? Any of these can help predict future success while expanding the culture. - John Feldmann, Insperity
5. Self-Awareness
Successful candidates understand their strengths as well as their limitations. They are open and honest about their abilities and how they can effectively build upon their strong points and leverage others for any deficiencies. Self-aware people are better able to accurately assess their own actions and their impact on others, which is a key trait for strong leaders. - Geline Midouin, McCann Health
6. An Inclusive Mindset
Once you ensure that threshold competencies are met, the factor that really allows new hires to hit the ground running is inclusivity. The science of inclusivity is quite sound at this point, so when you use a process that helps you measure for inclusivity (e.g. civility, empathy, compassion and openness to differences), you hire people who help build healthy culture and engagement. - Leeno Karumanchery, MESH/Diversity
7. Diversity Of Skills And Backgrounds
Factor in the landscape of the current team capabilities coupled with candidates who are genuinely interested. This is your moment to diversify skills with added behaviors to take the team to the next level of success within your organization. A stand-out candidate will bring something unique while being eager to contribute to the group. - Betsy Johnson, Cludo
8. The Small, Human Details
Listen carefully to small details and ask questions to help you gain insight into the human behind the well-presented candidate. Which candidate has the passions and strengths most relevant to your company? Explore more in detail the measurable things have they accomplished and consider which candidate best matches your role and culture. - Peggy Shell, Creative Alignments
9. Growth Potential
Potential is a differentiator. If you have equally qualified candidates, who has soft skills, leadership skills, communication skills, the collaborative spirit and the can-do attitude? Who is going to elevate your team and go above and beyond? Look for candidates who will challenge the status quo, push your team to higher levels of performance and motivate you to be a better leader. - Lotus Buckner, NCH
10. Their Character
Skills are now baseline in any hiring equation. Instead, look at the connective tissue, the softer skills. How has the candidate worked through adversity or solving a hard problem? Pay attention to the character that comes through in their decision-making while talking through the process. You'll be able to gauge their cultural fit to your organizational values by asking these types of questions. - AJ Thomas, Auction.com
11. Adaptability And Measurable Success
There are a lot of factors here: desired pay and title, management abilities, cultural fit, chemistry with team members. Two that stand out are adaptability and measurable successes. The former speaks to an ability to collaborate well with others and being flexible with change. The latter refers to achieving quantifiable business goals and communicating the problem-solving that went into it. - Genine Wilson, Kelly Services
12. Consistency, Constitution And Compassion
When skills and experience all check out, recruiters should look closely at these three characteristics: consistency in one's behavior and work ethic to avoid introducing more variables, constitution strong enough to weather work storms or personal drama and compassion for both individuals and the greater team when the time comes to make the hard but right decisions. - Angela Nguyen, Ad Exchange Group
13. A Unique Vision
Assuming all things are equal I would look at two things. Firstly, what unique and diverse perspective can this person add that I don’t already have, and secondly, what unique vision does this person have about the industry that we are in and where it is headed? Candidates with industry domain expertise are special and possibly rare, but those “unicorn” candidates will always stand out. - Bianca McCann, Trifacta Inc.
14. The Best Fit For Your Business Needs
In my experience, it is rare to get through an entire interview process and be flush with candidates, stuck having to make a choice you don't want to make. The reason for this is because if you're remembering the needs of the business in addition to interviewing strong candidates, it is highly unlikely you will get more than a couple of candidates who "check all the boxes." - Evan Lassiter, Contino
