Avoid These Hiring Mistakes during COVID Era

  1. Don’t move too slowly, because the available labor pool is smaller than the number of jobs available. We’ve in the past counselled deliberation because the cost of a bad hire is high, but it might be time to temper that deliberation.
  2. Don’t rely on ‘post and pray’, e.g posting your job on a hiring board, even an online one, and pray that the right person shows up. Use multiple job boards, and talk to your employees about who to hire. Many employees come from within your company’s circle..
  3. If you interview on Monday, and the candidate seems good, make an offer; don’t wait all week to think about it.
  4. Don’t insist on office interviews, since not all the people who need to interview a candidate might be in the office. Use virtual interviews over Zoom or some other video platform.
  5. Don’t assume the hiring process over when the offer is accepted. There is less ethical behavior among employees, because they know that they’re in demand.
  6. Start your onboarding process as soon as the offer is accepted; corral the people that the newbie will be working for/with and have them start making the newbie comfortable.
  7. Don’t nickel and dime the offer; guess at what the competition is offering and raise it 10% if you really want the newbie.
  8. Don’t make a big deal of a new hire’s vaccination status: there’s some question legally about how much you can ask. You can get them vaxed later if they’re proving out well.