When to Turn Down a Promising Job Candidate

This article comes from Entrepreneur.

When to Turn Down a Promising Job Candidate

Why do some of the best candidates sometimes turn out to be the worst employees? Shouldn’t our interview process weed out the people who don’t know what they’re doing?

That’s not always the case. Look for these signs to determine when a promising candidate is a wrong fit:

Disrespectful attitude

Few young startups have full HR departments. Many don’t even have an HR representative on staff. That’s not necessarily the end of the world for small teams.

Founders can’t afford to invite disrespectful or sexist employees into the fold — especially with no formal checks to deal with them.

Some questions to ask for to determine whether to turn down this promising candidate.

  1. Ask prospective employees about how they feel working in diverse teams.
  2. Ask them about their personal prejudices, too. The best candidates will answer that they are aware of how their backgrounds influence their natural biases and work to avoid them.
  3. Remember the most charming candidates can still answer even the toughest questions with a smile.

Lack of detailed information

Anyone can talk a big game. Great applicants can even talk about what they would like to do for the company and how they envision their role. However, only the best candidates can back up their experiences with the stories behind them.

Ask candidates to talk about their biggest projects, then dive deeper to determine if you should turn down this promising candidate.

  1. What other solutions did they consider before they settled on the right one?
  2. Who did they consult along the way?
  3. What would they do differently next time? If they really accomplished what their applications claim, they will be able to answer follow-up questions with detailed responses.

Bad vibes

Sometimes, an applicant provides all the right answers, dresses the right way and appears to fit the culture, but there’s still something off but promising job candidates learn how to answer the questions correctly. Don’t let gut instinct prevent you from hiring the right person but don’t ignore your intuition if you can’t shake that bad feeling.

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