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If you’ve worked in HR long enough, you’ve been involved with a lot of job searches and hiring. Sometimes it’s impossible to find a qualified candidate for an opening, while other times it’s equally challenging to choose just one. If you have two candidates who are neck and neck with one another, do you know the best way to pick between them?
4 Tips for Choosing One Candidate Over the Other
We’ve all been there before. You have two sets of applications, resumes, and cover letters sitting in front of you. From a quality and “fit” perspective, they look nearly identical. Both would thrive in the position. After conducting a few rounds of interviews and following up with each candidate’s references, both continue to impress. How is your company supposed to choose one? What if you’re about to make a big mistake in telling someone no?
It’s not always easy to choose one candidate over another, but take heart in the fact that you’re going to end up with a good candidate, regardless. Having said that, here are some suggestions for how you can separate the two.
1. Check Their Credit Information
“It’s fairly common for an employer to study credit report information when contrasting one candidate against another,” explains John Heath, Directing Attorney at Lexington Law, a credit repair service that works directly with consumers to help improve scores. “If one candidate shows a lot of fiscal responsibility in their personal life, while another has a ton of outstanding debt, that tells the employer something.”
While you could make the case that personal credit information has nothing to do with a candidate’s ability to do his job well, remember that you’re looking for small differentiating factors – this could be a good tiebreaker.
2. Try the “Beer Test”
If both of the candidates have identical qualifications and skillsets, you might want to shift your attention towards cultural fit. How will they fit into your company? Will their introduction be smooth, or are they going to rock the boat? A lot of companies like to use the “beer test” to determine this.
The beer test asks one simple question: Who would I rather have a beer with after work? In other words, who is more enjoyable to be around? The logic is that having personable people in your office makes the company a better place to work.
3. Assign a Project
So both candidates perform well on paper, but what about in real life? If you’re really stuck, it may be helpful to assign them both a mini project. You can then judge the results of this project – both on accuracy and creativity – and give the position to the one who performs best.
4. Conduct a Backdoor Reference Check
You’ve certainly contacted both candidates’ official references by now, but have you done some of your own digging? There’s nothing illegal about running some Google searches and checking out each candidate’s internet presence – including social media profiles. If the information is out there, it’s yours for the taking. You may find something positive or negative that influences your decision.
Never Burn Any Bridges
If you like a candidate now, chances are pretty high that you’re going to like that same candidate in six months or two years. This should go without saying, but don’t burn any bridges when denying the candidate you ultimately decide not to go with. You never know when you’ll need to turn right back around and hire them for another opening. Keep the relationship alive and look for an opportunity to hire them down the road.
May 11, 2017 at 11:55AM
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