Beyond The Résumé: How To Hire The Right People

Asia continues to stand out as the world’s top performer when it comes to economic growth, owing in large part to its dynamic labour markets, but it can be tough to know which roles are harder to fill than others.

Even with many technology-driven HR solutions having made its way into the market, talent acquisition still has its challenges. Competition is high across all industries and occupations, but below are some tips from us on what it takes to hire the best person for your growing team.

#1 Penning the right job description

Crafting a compelling job description is essential in helping you attract the most qualified candidates for your job. Today’s candidates require a job description that is effective, engaging and paints a picture of the job position and company.

The key to writing an effective job description is to find the perfect balance between providing enough detail so candidates understand the role and your company while keeping your description concise. Non-traditional descriptions like “Unicorn Designer” and “Rockstar Engineer / Marketer” are disingenuous and unrealistic. It is better to trade elusive job titles for clearer ones.

You will also want to tie the job role back to the company’s mission and culture, so the candidate can see a clear purpose and value of what they would be doing. If there are any exciting use of technologies and major strategic initiatives, you’ll want to include it!

#2 Spruce Up Your Career Site

Career site optimisation is one of the first things you should do to convey your company’s proposition, showcase your company culture and provide the available job positions.

Candidates that come to your career site are already showing an interest in you, therefore it is best to not let them leave without applying. You can start by adding employee testimonials, fun videos, introduce your team, or write about an interesting project that your company is working on.

#3 Attract talents using the right Talent Acquisition Consultants

As one of the more established and experienced recruitment agencies in Asia, The Edge Partnership audience spans all industries and company sizes. Whether it’s a start-up, a local conglomerate, an international bank or a multinational corporation, our goal is single-minded – to provide companies with the competitive edge needed to source key talents across all aspects of your business.

We take great pride in being at the forefront of talent development.  After all, every company needs the right talent to succeed and our role is to connect talents with the right organisations.

Most of us have more than 10 years of experience across all Asian markets with a hands-on understanding of a range of sectors including Finance, Retail, Supply Chain and Marketing. We lead by providing customised programmes that address your specific market or hiring initiatives.

#4 Interviewing for the right metric: skills and character, not just a job position

There have been a tremendous number of articles on how a woman named Olivia Bland who claimed she was subjected to a “brutal” two-hour job interview and further stating the company’s CEO “tried his best to intimidate” her and “assert power”.

Bland’s case is about more than just a terrible interview; it’s a reminder of how technology can transform a relationship and go completely out of hand between individuals and businesses. CEOs and corporations can now be held accountable in a public forum in a way that was never possible before.

Learning from this lesson, it should be understood that job interviews should be more than just the job description. This kind of forethought is essential to nail down the right candidate. Questions such as: ‘What triggers your interest in this field? How does working in XXX company fit your strengths?’ are helpful in determining if the candidate is a right fit or not.

A skilled interviewer who makes the candidate comfortable will gain valuable information about the person and present a positive image of their company, improving the odds of the best candidate being hired.

#5 Support flexibility and trust over perks

In today’s job market, companies often think they need to go overboard with their perks such as state-of-the-art facilities, game rooms and free gourmet meals. But one of the most attractive and easily available ones is: flexible work arrangements.

The workplace has increasingly become mobile where employees want to choose where and how they work. If companies offered certain options for working from home from time-to-time, this can help increase the productivity of their talents and enable people with a better work/life balance.

At the end of the day, no candidate has exactly the right skills for the job or is perfectly qualified. Who is the person sitting in front of you, and are they someone you want on your team? Can you trust them to do the right thing? Every candidate is going to have a “learning” process for any job that they are hired. Your instincts will help, but asking the right questions are also critical.

Who will your next hire be? If you’re expanding your teams and looking to hire the right candidate, get in touch with us at The Edge to find out how we can streamline your company’s hiring process.