How to Avoid Hiring the Same Type of Person Over and Over

In 2020, businesses are going to become more modern than ever. With thousands of startups nationwide, companies are trying to make their brand familiar to people with a lot of competition. That’s why it’s essential to diversify your staff with employees who have a variety of skill sets, which can give you a fresh perspective on how to help your business excel.

You don’t want to let your hiring bias keep you from hiring great employees who can balance your other co-workers because you’re afraid of breaking from company standard. So how do you make sure that you aren’t hiring carbon copies of the same employee over and over again?

Here are some tips for hiring managers that can help you understand how to diversify your staff:

Future Factors

If you aren’t hiring based on your company’s projected growth for the next few years, then you shouldn’t be making any hires at all. You need to consider the potential success of your business, the goals you have to expand, and other products or services you want to offer in the future. All of that takes time and planning.

This planning, however, helps you to identify critical areas in which you will need to make new hires to fill growing business needs. Taking the time to have face-to-face interviews can be helpful in understanding how candidate talent could be used in different areas across your company. Take note of candidates you like and why so that if a future position opens up that fits their skills, you can reach out to them again.

Red Flags? Rethink Them

Traditionally, a gap in employment on a resume was a bad thing, traveling instead of studying was frowned upon, and having several jobs over the course of a few years was a downright dealbreaker. But passing on candidates because of these so-called “red flags” could be the worst hiring mistake you could make.

Gaps in employment don’t necessarily mean the candidate was fired or couldn’t get hired for a job—it could mean they took a break to care for family or to build a more robust education. Similarly, frequent job changes don’t always mean candidates are unable to keep a job; in fact, it could be a sign that they were seeking a job they were more passionate about and have found it in the position at your company. Passion is a rare find, so in reality, those red flags might be the exact reason you should hire someone.

Growth Opportunities

If you are looking for candidates that have all of the skills required for the job, then you have nothing to teach them. They will likely have fewer growth opportunities, and their job may become stale because it doesn’t challenge them to do and learn more. While it is nice to hire someone who meets every skill point you’ve outlined in the job description, it’s often wiser to hire someone who can rely on your company to help them learn important job skills.

By offering learning opportunities such as shadowing experienced staff or taking subject-specific courses, you show your new hires that you are invested in them, which will in turn make them more loyal to you. There are a number of other ways that you can facilitate these extra learning opportunities:

• Encourage skill-swap sessions where people can bring an expertise to the table they’d like to show, and chose people to swap with.
• Offer workshops and online trainings.
• Provide skills training outside of what’s needed for the position itself, using resources inside and outside the workplace.

Consider employee training not as an expense but as an investment in the future of your business.

Hiring

We’ve talked a lot about tips for how hiring managers can diversify their staff and hire people who balance their current coworkers with unique skillsets and experiences. Your new hire might be the person with a character-building gap year on their resume, a passion for learning, or a reliable personality. Or they might be an out-the-box thinker that challenges your current processes.

But perhaps on the top of the list for making sure you hire accountable, diverse people to fill in the gaps on your team is to do your research. Conducting accurate employee background checks is an excellent way to make sure that candidates truly have the skills and qualifications that are mentioned on their resume and a history of stability and trustworthiness.

As you go into the New Year and follow these tips to diversify your staff, you can gain a competitive edge and grow significantly as a business. Hiring can be daunting during low unemployment rates, but don’t rush the process—be careful and considerate in your hiring decisions, and you’re sure to find top talent that diversifies your team.