When you are posting a vacancy, it is possible that you receive hundreds of applications which can make it quite a challenge to process and find that perfect candidate for the job. How do you make the first selection and only have those candidates moving forward in the process that really make a chance? Fortunately, there are some clear signs that show you that you might be dealing with the worst candidates and if you know how to recognize these signs you can easily weed most the bad candidates out already.
It might be surprising but there are probably more applications that show one or more of the following signs than applications that don´t, so do yourself a favor and scan for these red flags to only deal with the good candidates in the final stages of your recruitment process.
Messy resumes
We have all seen them: messy resumes with lots of mistakes. Not edited resumes or full with typos or grammar errors, unfortunately, are not an exception but should be a clear red flag as a hiring manager. Candidates that don´t check their resumes and don´t pay attention to detail are lazy and won´t be a good hire, so save yourself the trouble and immediately put them on the “no pile”.
Candidates that don´t know anything about your company or product
Does the candidate show any evidence during their application or interview of having done any research on your company or the product you are selling? Because if they don´t, they might not be the motivated and good candidate you are looking for. It is important to have realistic expectations, if the candidate has never used your products, they obviously won´t know them too well. However, they should be able to discuss the basic company and product information that can be found by a simple online search. If they don´t do this, are they really interested in working for you?
Incorrect on social media
In today´s digital environment, all candidates will have a presence on social media. Although most social networks are personal, a candidate´s behavior online should be appropriate. Posting inappropriate things online should be another red flag for you as a recruiter or hiring manager. Despite the social and personal context, it will raise questions of ethical and respectful behavior both in the work setting and in private settings and you probably don´t want to hire someone that shows this inappropriate behavior because it will also represent your company.
Not motivated
You should never hire candidates that seem unmotivated. Or candidates that don´t seem to like hard work and prefer the easy way out. Make sure to check in your interviews with questions focusing on why they want this particular job and where they see their career going. If such basic questions can´t be sensibly answered, that´s a pretty clear indicator that they are not very motivated.
Not updated LinkedIn profiles
Just like in this digital era everybody is on a lot of personal social networks, professional network LinkedIn can´t be forgotten. If candidates have their online professional presence not up to date, that can be another sign of not paying attention to detail.
What are other clear signs for you that you are dealing with one of the worst hires possible?
