How to Screen a Potential Employee: Your Complete Guide

Are you wondering how to screen a potential employee? Check out this guide to learn how it’s done.

Finding good employees might seem like an easy task but it can be difficult when you have no knowledge of the individual’s prior history. Bringing on the right people to your team requires that you to know about more than what they can offer. You should also make sure that they are exactly who they say they are.

For these reasons, it’s important to have a process that can help you to be sure you aren’t making the best decision on candidates that you’re considering. Keep reading this guide on how to screen a potential employee for your company.

Do A Thorough Interview

Typically when a company is interested in a potential employee, they schedule an interview. During the interview process, you should be able to get to know the person a little by asking the appropriate questions. Sometimes hiring managers miss the mark, however, by not running the interviews correctly.

It’s best to focus on interview questions that are open-ended and can give you an insight into how the person thinks and operates. You should create scenarios where the individual would have to put themselves in the scene and explain what they would hypothetically do. You should also try to find out about their personality traits, skills, and habits that might deem them a good fit for the job.

Run Background Checks

Everyone has a past and although we aren’t defined by those choices, you should still take them into consideration when screening a potential employee. One of the best legal ways to do this is to run background checks.

Performing police background checks tells you whether or not the person has been engaged in criminal activity, what type, and how many times. Again, people can change, but you should know the whole truth about someone that you want to trust in the future. Also, give the individual a chance to explain their prior offenses during the hiring process.

Have Multiple Meetings

Most times, you can’t get a complete feel for a person with just one meeting. A lot of hiring departments have added multiple stages to their process in which a candidate goes to more than one interview. Each time the potential employee makes it to the next stage, they are meeting someone higher up in the ranks.

This is a good idea for employee screening because it gives different authorities in the company a chance to add in their thoughts on an interviewee.

Connect on Social Media

Today’s world is practically run by digital screens, and most of your candidates will be engaged in those screens via social media. Connecting with a potential employee on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn can give you a closer look at the individual.

Remember, everyone is entitled to their privacy and what they do in their downtime may not affect their work performance. It’s important that you ask for permission to connect with their person instead of trying to sneak onto their profile.

Looking for More Info on How to Screen a Potential Employee?

The most important part about finding the right people for your company is to make sure that the screening process is thorough. Take your time in making the best decision but try not to drag it out for too long.

A great potential employee could be right at your fingertips so be sure to take notice of everything. If you enjoyed this article and need more advice on hiring, check out our blog section today.