Five questions you should ask yourself before opening any recruitment process

Most recruitment processes that go wrong do not fail at the interview stage. They fail before they even begin, when the company is not clear about what it is really looking for.

1. Are we hiring for the real problem or for the symptom?

An overloaded team does not always need another person. Sometimes it needs a redesigned process. An area with high turnover does not always need better recruitment. Sometimes it needs a different manager.

Before opening a position, it is worth asking whether hiring solves the underlying problem or simply postpones the uncomfortable conversation.

2. Do we know exactly what success means in this role after 90 days?

If you cannot describe in three specific points what the person hired should have achieved in their first 90 days, the job profile is probably too vague.

Junior candidates value clear expectations. An advert that includes "expected results in the first three months" converts significantly better than one that does not, according to data from platforms specialising in young talent such as Joblanders.

3. Does the hiring manager have the time and willingness to support the onboarding process?

Hiring someone without a manager available for onboarding is only half a hire. If the manager is facing a particularly heavy workload, it is worth delaying the process or appointing someone from the team who can take on that role temporarily.

4. Have we asked the team what kind of profile they need?

The team that will work with the new hire has information that the manager and HR do not. Including them in defining the profile improves the quality of the profile being sought and the subsequent integration.

5. Are we willing to hire someone who challenges us?

The best junior profiles are not the most compliant. They are the ones who ask questions, suggest alternatives and point out inconsistencies. If the team culture has no room for that, the process will filter out exactly the people who could contribute the most.

The answers to these five questions are not always comfortable. But they are more useful than any interview technique.