Having two seemingly perfect candidates and only one role to fill is generally a good problem to have. However the risk of selecting the wrong ‘perfect’ candidate makes this decision an especially tricky one.
The good news is this situation provides a great opportunity to explore your current business needs and mid-long term objectives.
Determine What You Really Need
Since your candidates are neck and neck in the final round, they probably both have a good number of the skills required to perform the role. However even though they both can perform the role each candidate probably has skills that the other doesn’t. So a great question to ask is: What is the number one thing I need most in this hire?
It may be most important to you that the new employee is an energetic powerhouse who can hit the ground running ASAP, or you may be more interested in a highly organised and analytical employee who could eventually complement your big-picture approach.
You should also look at the candidates’ skills as an indicator of their future potential. Ultimately, you want your new employee to operate independently and be able to advance to the next career stage. The more capable your new employee is, the more you will be able to leverage your own time. Try thinking about who could really grow in the organisation and eventually have the potential to take your role.
The Beer/Wine Test
Organisational fit is no small concern. A good percentage of candidates don’t make interviewing cuts solely because they wouldn’t mesh with the culture of the company. Beyond thinking about which candidate really “gets” your company, is excited about your mission, and has goals that match up with the organisation, you should think more carefully about how each of these people would work in your office day to day. Has one candidate more than the other successfully spent time in workplaces such as yours? Has the other candidate chosen companies with dissimilar cultures intentionally or have they just not had the opportunity to work in similar companies?
Moreover, which of the two would you rather have a beer / wine with after work? There’s no way you can know everything about how a candidate will interact on a daily basis, but you can usually get a pretty good sense based on your gut reaction to whether you’d want to hang out with him or her. Some companies even have what they call “social interviews” where they take candidates out for happy hour with some of the team to let them socialise.
Hiring is a Two-Way Street
And lastly, once you have decided which candidate is best, you have to think about whether you can secure him or her. If they’ve made it this far in the application process, they’re probably both excited about the job, but a lot more comes into play when considering an offer. You need to think about what it takes to attract this person to your company.
What are each candidate’s levels of experience, and therefore likely compensation requirements and are you able to fulfil those demands? Has one candidate spent the last few years working for a company with exciting perks that you aren’t able to match up to? Will you lose either one completely if you don’t make an immediate offer? Or once you offer your top candidate, how long will the back-up candidate remain available for? It’s often tough to be realistic about the logistics, but it can often help you tip the scale one way or another.
Summary
If you haven’t got two strong candidates to consider then it can be a good idea to re-visit the market to check your best candidate is the ‘perfect’ candidate.
Originally published by QuestRecruitment LTD
