How to Decide between Two Great Candidates: What to Do

When you’re hiring, you don’t just get a great person to do the job. You get someone to add to your team. Finding the best person takes more than the interview process, it takes understanding precisely what you want from the candidate and your role, and it takes considering what you and the team need from the candidate.

When you find yourself deciding who to hire between two excellent candidates, you may find these tips helpful:

Consider Culture Add Instead of Culture Fit

Consider the candidate who is just suitable for your culture instead of the one you would like most.

Culture fit is a red herring. As the word implies, it’s not about the right fit but the right culture. Culture is never static. It’s constantly evolving as the team grows and as the business evolves.

If you’re saying you want to have a high-energy culture, that’s probably not the best thing to look for when filling the role because you want someone to join an already established team.

Look for someone who will bring a particular attitude or skill set that is already aligned with the culture you’re trying to maintain or the values you want. Finding culture-fit people would only limit your options and encourage biases. Employees who can bring in diverse traits, values, and thoughts would always make the workspace more exciting and valuable.

Soft Skills Can Be a Weighing Factor

If both of your candidates have impressive hard skills, choose the one with incomparable soft skills. For instance, imagine that there are two candidates, both of whom are excellent at what they do. One is personable and approachable, while the other is very reserved. If you’re looking to have a highly collaborative workspace, the personable candidate would be your first choice.

You can assess them through the following soft skills questions:

• How do they communicate?
• Are they creative thinkers?
• Can they see problems from both sides and reach a solution?

Future Plans Should Also Be Considered

When assessing candidates, you also need to consider their future goals, such as whether they intend to grow in their current role or stay in one place. Ask them questions about their goals and where your company fits into their plans.

It is imperative in organizations where people often stay in one place long. For instance, in a growing company, people come and go regularly, and there’s a constant high turnover rate. You will have to ensure that your team has the right mix of experienced and inexperienced staff.

Conclusion

Hiring the best person for your team is about finding the right person for the role. That includes considering their soft skills, future plans, and matching their culture to your company’s. Don’t let bias be the reason you hire someone. Instead, find the right candidate who will be an excellent fit for your team and your organization in the long run.

There is no right way to find the right person, but there are the right questions to ask. These questions will help you be more discerning and willing to bring more diversity into your organization. It’s important to remember that we all define leadership in different ways. And while being a leader is essential, it’s also vital that the candidate aligns with the company’s culture and the people in the company.

If you want a good hire, make sure to do it right from the start. Use assessment tests for your job applications through assessment test software, and you could immediately get rid of bad hires. Kandio is a program that can help you achieve that. Get a demo now!