So we’ve all seen it.  A candidate goes 2 rounds of behavioral interviews, everyone loves them then they get into the actual role and fizzle.  Whether it’s a disconnect with overall fit or a overall lack of tangible skills for the position, it’s always an unfortunate position to be in.  The real question, is how can you ensure this happens less often or better yet prevent it altogether?

The answer might be as simple as testing their skills to make sure they fit the responsibilities they’ll have in the job and the personality that gels well with your corporate culture during the interview process.  Here’s a few ways that I’ve seen that might help your recruitment marketing process:

Project Interview Round: For every person that gets past the initial phone screen, we’ve added a round during the interview process to test their skills in an environment that is similar to what they’d be doing in the job (i.e. Presenting on our product, Writing targeted web content. etc.)  This gives us a good feel for how their skills match the position.  Plenty of other companies do variations of this with success.

Open House: Having an event for 2nd round candidates is a great way to see how they mesh with other candidates and current employees.  It is also a great way to figure out which candidates don’t fit your organization from a company culture stand-point.  The key here is to get your employees to attend these events and get their input on the top candidates that they liked and would be a good fit.  It’s also a great way to display your employer brand!

Similar Companies: Another great way to figure out if a candidate is a good fit for your company is to identify companies that require similar skill sets to yours.  Once identified, you can target candidates that have experience at these companies and know that they probably would be a good fit for your company.  You may even conduct resume sourcing campaigns with those company as a keyword.

The Behavioral interview is a great way to get an understanding of a candidate’s past experience, however, it’s ill-suited for determining actual fit.  Make sure to put steps into your interview & selection process that identify and test key skills and abilities that are required to be successful when a candidate becomes an employee at your company.