It isn’t a rare occurrence that you don’t hire someone to work for you not simply because they weren’t right for the job, but because the interview wasn’t really good. A proper interview requires particular goals and a number of psychological factors.

When it comes to goals, you are looking for someone who fits well with your company’s culture and shares your vision and beliefs. But competence is also key because you need someone who is capable of doing what is required, and do it well. You are also looking for someone who is engaged. These are people who aren’t just there to earn their salaries but actually enjoy working for you and sharing tasks with their co-workers. There is also the fact that you need a person that has potential to improve, both themselves and your company. Finally, an employee that contributes to your company in terms of things such as effectiveness is the kind of employee you want on your team.

So, how do you approach the hiring process properly, with having psychological principles in mind?

Come up with clear job descriptions

You may think this is something that shouldn’t even be mentioned, but the fact is that a lot of job descriptions aren’t properly written and, therefore, become a problem for hiring the right person for the job. As a result, they can stunt the future of your company. When it comes to a job description, it has to take into consideration both the present and the future. Basically, you are not looking for someone who is only going to satisfy your current needs, but an employee that is going to be an important asset to your company in the long run.

So, basically, a proper job description elaborates on the role, traits, and skills that a person needs to have in order to fit in with your business. You should also make sure that your prospective employee understands your company’s values, culture, and image. What you need is the right combination of skills and values that can boost your company’s productivity.

Look for both strengths and weaknesses

When you interview a candidate for a job, you aren’t merely doing guesswork. When we take a qualified psychologist in mind, we know that it requires a number of sessions until they can really understand their patient. So, how do you do the same thing as an employer via interviewing and testing?

It’s a challenging task. But the problem with a lot of interviews is that they are made in order to reject the majority of candidates and then pick amongst the “survivors” who is the best fitting for the job. Basically, a lot of employers focus on the candidates’ weaknesses and simply write them off as liabilities.

The truth is that it is important to look for obvious flaws, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t good for the job. You need to dig out their strengths as well, and then compare them with their weaknesses, in accordance with the job position that they are applying for. It is practically impossible to find “the perfect candidate”. So, look for those that can benefit your team, despite some flaws that they might have in certain areas.

Diversify the talents that you hire

It is always a good idea to diversify the employees that you hire to be a part of your team. This means that you should look for people with various background, skills, knowledge, and so on. That is why companies often hire people from other countries. They do their best to find experts who can offer new and exciting ideas to their business. There is a great chance that there is a person who would be an extremely valuable addition to your team living somewhere overseas. Not only will they benefit your company, but also bring diversity to your team, which people often appreciate and find inspiring.

However, a migration agent from Sydney underlines the importance of providing such an employee with proper papers and a work visa, so that they can work for you without getting into any legal issues that employers sometimes tend to overlook.

Make sure that your interview has the right behavior-based questions

The problem with a great number of interviews is that the manager simply doesn’t ask the right questions which are necessary for you to make a cognizant decision. This is where an HR person is essential because you don’t want to find yourself in the situation where you hire someone, and then have to call your HR representative to tell them that you have made a mistake and need to deal with it ASAP.

Therefore, it is necessary that you come up with targeted questions based on particular scenarios so that you can get to know your candidates better and make much more knowledgeable decisions. The point is to get very specific with your questions, so that, instead of getting well-rehearsed answers, you dive into a more personal territory and get a response that is much more sincere. Ask them about a particular situation that they might have faced in the past, and find out how they have dealt with it. Let them show you how they think, and learn what you need to know about their problem-solving abilities.

There is a lot of necessary psychology behind the hiring process. First of all, your job descriptions need to be clear, so that a person is well aware of the role, skills, and traits that they need to have, as well as what your company’s culture is like. You should look for both weaknesses and strengths, and weight them against the job position that the person is applying for. Hiring a person from a different cultural background and specific expertise can benefit your company greatly, and inspire your team to do better.