Deciding Which Candidate to Recruit: A Simple Guide to Making the Final Choice

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<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
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<li>To make a good hiring decision, follow this eight-step process: review the Great Performance Profile, score the candidate against the competencies, build consensus among the Interview Team by using the Delphi Technique, discuss patterns and the candidate’s motivations, do a Pre-Mortem, and finally make your decision and confirm it in writing.</li>
<li>If you’re unsure, try to get any further information you need. </li>
<li>Don’t shy away from saying “No” when you have to, but ensure you communicate rejections respectfully.</li>
<li>If you don’t find anyone suitable, then have a pause to reflect on what went wrong.</li>
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When deciding whether or not to hire someone, it’s easy to get carried away by your emotions and make a poor decision. This doesn’t mean that feelings are irrelevant, though. The decision-making process that I’ll take you through in this guide recognises the importance of your gut instincts while making sure that these don’t sabotage you.

It’s best for the Interview Team to make a decision immediately after the interview before important details are forgotten. Here are the crucial steps to follow:

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Step 1: Review the Great Performance Profile

• Remind everyone of the Minimum Acceptable Standards for each Key Competency defined in the Great Performance Profile. 
• Remember that you’re looking to hire someone who you think will be a Great Performer. You don’t want to hire a Poor Performer out of desperation.

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Step 2: Individually Score the Candidate

• Every member of the Interview Team must score the candidate for each Key Competency (the team must not discuss yet; do this individually). It’s good to do this using a Fibonacci Sequence – 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 13 – because people tend to find it easier to distinguish between scores. 

• Look for patterns, and remember that the candidate’s most recent performance is most important.
• Consider the context of the candidate’s strengths and whether they are relevant to your specific work environment.
• Are any weaknesses tolerable, particularly ones which make them fall below the Minimum Acceptable Standard for a competency? How likely is it that they will change?
• Don’t total scores because not every requirement is equally important. 
• Remember that decision making is both art and science. 
• Overall, consider whether the person has the attributes of a potential Great Performer.

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Step 3: Use the Delphi Technique to Arrive at a Consensus About the Candidate’s Competencies

The Delphi Technique is a powerful tool for making group decisions about complex issues, such as those faced by recruiters. Here’s how to do it:

• Ask members of the Interview Team to reveal at the same time their scores on a competency. Hopefully the scores will be within 2 points on the scale (eg. between 3 and 5) in which case the group is broadly in agreement about that competency.
• If the scores differ by more than two points on the scale (eg. 3 to 8) invite those who’ve given the low and high scores to share their reasons. Encourage people to be as open as possible. If you think the group is about to make a mis-hire you need to say so!
• Now get everyone to score again.
• When the scores are with 2 points, move onto the next competency, but if they aren’t, repeat the steps if necessary.

Although it might sound long-winded, once you start the scores quickly narrow to a generally accepted range. The technique helps give voice to all members’ views while allowing them to modify their positions through discussion with others. It reduces bias, social pressure and the influence of senior people and dominant personalities.

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Step 4: Discuss Patterns

When coming up with your scores, look for patterns in candidates’ experience, such as:

• Is the candidate’s salary consistently increasing? 
• Do they keep repeating the same mistakes?
• Do they work well with their teams and managers?
• Do they often leave jobs for negative reasons?
• Was their past environment the key to their success?

A good discussion will be evidence-based, fair, and detailed. If you’re finding it hard to agree, remember that recruitment is an imprecise science and that you need to be open to compromise.

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Step 5: Discuss the Candidate’s Motivations

Next, consider the following:

• Do they have a good balance of professional and personal motivation? You don’t want candidates purely motivated by personal matters, as they may be less reliable and productive.
• Does the candidate seem motivated about your job? If you have a “great” candidate but they aren’t showing any motivation for the job, I recommend you find another candidate. Their lack of motivation will negatively impact their productivity, and they may quickly leave.
• Are they focused mainly on the long term? Candidates primarily focused on short-term motivations are more likely to leave.
• Is their “push” motivation too strong? Candidates being pushed/forced away from their current situation often make rash, short-term decisions.
• Is money their greatest motivator? If money is a short-term motivator, be very concerned. I’d generally find a better candidate if I can't find broader motivations.

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Step 6: Debate Why you Should Not Employ them Using a Pre-Mortem

The idea here is to imagine scenarios in which things don’t work out with someone you hire and to identify the reasons for this. This effective strategy gives the team psychological permission to discuss failure, and by anticipating potential problems you actually increase the chances of things going well. Discuss reasons why you shouldn’t give someone a job:

• “A year from now, the unexpected happens, and the candidate does not work out. Why?”
• “What are the downsides? Why wouldn’t we employ this person?”
• “How likely are the downsides to occur?”
• “What can we do to mitigate the downsides?”
• “Can we accept the downsides?”
• “Can we help them overcome their weaknesses?”
• “What’s the risk to their career if the role doesn’t work out?”

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Step 7: Make a Decision

• Although the boss has the final say, decisions should be made on the basis of the combined wisdom of the group. If you’ve properly followed the previous steps, then everyone on the Interview Team should have expressed their view and been listened to by the others. 
• Please resist the temptation of expecting a “perfect” candidate. Perfect doesn’t exist. You’re simply looking for someone who is a Great Performer on the basis of the Key Competencies that you’ve defined.
• I accept that introducing this decision-making tool may be difficult in some company cultures and challenging to use in a small business with limited staff. In this case, it’s helpful to bring in an outside perspective, such as that of a non-executive director or recruitment advisor. While their expertise will cost money, the cost of a mis-hire is often far greater.

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Step 8: Confirming your Decision in Writing (optional)

I often need to document decisions when consulting or in a corporate role. I hate putting too much in writing because candidates have a legal right to see information about them, and almost anything can be distorted to suit a particular narrative. Therefore, if you are going to confirm your decision in writing, even if it is for internal purposes, I would recommend being concise, objective, unbiased, job relevant and professional.

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Making an Offer

If you want to offer the candidate a job, that’s great! Now go straight to our guides, Use Reference Calls: Find Out What Candidates Don’t Want You to Know! followed by Expert Tips on How to Make & Negotiate Job Offers and chapters 15 and 16.

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What to Do if You’re Unsure

• Hopefully, the steps that I’ve outlined should have helped you come to a clear decision, but you may find yourself uncertain.
• If you need more information from the candidate, then call them to address any questions you still have (avoid inviting the candidate for another interview if possible). You may also want to consider further Job Simulations and Work Culture Assessments.
• If you have enough information but you’re still unsure, then you’ve made the decision – don’t hire.

At this point, avoid some common pitfalls:

• Assuming that there’s someone better out there looking for your kind of job now.
• Feeling that you have to pick someone right now.
• Feeling that because you’ve spent time and resources on recruitment, you can’t back out.
• Just wanting to hire so that you can tick it off your list.
• Trying to shoehorn someone into your business by adapting the job, when you actually need someone to perform a particular set of tasks.

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How to Say “No”

• Don’t be scared of turning people down – sometimes it has to be done! See our separate guide, 3 Techniques for Declining Candidates Professionally and chapter 18.
• It’s best to send unsuccessful candidates an email informing them that they haven’t got the job. Choose your words carefully, and stick to generalities (you can see an example template of this under the Guides & Checklists section of our website). 
• You might want to call the candidate in the case of senior posts, if it was a close decision, if the process was subject to serious delay or if you think there might be an opportunity with you for the candidate in future. 
• Be cautious about giving information if the candidate asks for feedback – stick to stating that other candidates had more relevant experience. 

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If Things Don’t Work Out, Take a Pause

• If you don’t find the right candidate, the hardest and bravest decision you can take is not to immediately restart the recruitment process.
• You need to pause before plunging into a new round of recruitment. 

Think about what went wrong. Were you expecting too much? Was your advert poorly written? Did you use the wrong or insufficient Applicant Attraction Channels? For more help on these points see our guides Realistic Recruitment: The “Perfect” Employee Doesn’t Exist; Revealed: The Ultimate Structure for High-Impact Job Adverts; and Fill Your Jobs Fast: Use Multiple Channels to Attract Great Performers.

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Additional Resources

• Recruitment book; The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; 8 Crucial Steps for Deciding Who to Recruit.
• Article; How to Decide Who to Hire: A Revolutionary Approach to Landing the Best Fit Every Time!