8 Ways To Make Sure An Employee Is A Good Fit for Your Fire Crew

Finding the right person for your fire crew can be difficult. You may be wondering how in the world you are going to select the right person. The interviews and paperwork processes themselves are stressful enough, let alone the selection process itself. We’re here to take a look at some of the ways that you can make sure that a potential employee is a good fit for your fire crew. These tips will surely make your selection that much easier.

Define and review your job description

The most common problem with job applications is that wrong or inadequate people are attracted. You may be wondering why that’s the case, and the reason will shock you. Your job description is bad, incomplete or plain wrong. Try to define what kind of a person you are looking for exactly. Leave as little room for improvisation as possible. Your job is just as stressful as the applicant’s; even more so, since they are the ones looking for work. Once you have the job description defined, review it with your team to make sure that everyone agrees. Be as specific as possible, and the right people will approach you.

Create a series of questions

Even though you have the interview conversation mapped out in your head, it’s a good idea to write it all down. Create a series of questions that range from casual talk to professional questions. This will help you organize the interview better and lead your candidate through it more fluently. It’s easy to overlook a question or two in all the commotion and pass or fail a certain person based on incomplete data. Don’t shy away from careful planning and it will pay off in abundance.

Create a checklist

Before starting any interviews, try creating a checklist of traits, skills and attributes that you are looking for. The interviews themselves are brief and you need to be careful and act quickly. Having a checklist prepared beforehand and jotting down quick notes will let you listen to the candidate more carefully. There’s nothing worse than letting the right one slip through your fingers just because you were too busy writing down notes.

Check social media

While some candidates might not be present on social media, other will be. Use this advantage to take a peek at their profiles to see the faces of your potential employees. This is a good way to check for any potential red flags and see if the person fits into your social criteria. It’s not enough to pass or fail an individual, but it can help in large during your interview.

Be objective

You may not like every candidate based on their initial presentation. Some candidates may be dressed to your dislike, or you may not like someone’s deodorant. This is a subjective feeling, and you need to distance yourself from it as much as possible. You are screening candidates for a job position at your fire crew – not choosing a new best friend. You might be surprised as to how much you like someone down the line, but you won’t know that if you fail them based on personal feelings of distaste or otherwise.

Check their application twice

This goes without saying. Your candidate poured their heart and soul into creating a resume and a motivational letter. Make sure that you go through it before the interview and reference it during the conversation. They will appreciate you more for it and even answer additional questions to clear up any confusion you might have.

Another good idea is to do a writing service review like Essay Supply in order to get an expert opinion on the resume, if the position you are hiring for is a serious one. That being said, your candidate’s application is just as important as the interview you are conducting, so pay close attention to both.

Check the candidate’s soft skills

The common mistake employers make is that they hire people based on their resumes. While this is a sound practice in some industries, it’s far too common to hire someone who lacks any sense of soft skills. You want to hire someone who works well with others, who has leadership potential and has a healthy dose of ambition. There’s nothing wrong with hiring someone who lacks in certain areas since no one is perfect. It’s another thing entirely to hire a person who excelled in their studies but has a hard time fitting in and eventually quits due to their stress.

A good idea is to create a simple case study or a workshop and ask your candidate to follow along with it. You can base it around your own field of work and check their professional skills as well. There’s no wrong way to screen a person, but there is a lacklustre way. Make sure that you pay careful attention when checking candidates for their skills and everything will go well for both of you.

Continue the interview after the interview

Another mistake you can make is to call the interview quits when the candidate walks out the door. The selection process takes time and patience to conduct properly. Even if you are satisfied with your choice and about to reach for the phone, try calling the other candidates. Talk to them casually and ask them how they think they did on the interview. Ask them if they are satisfied with the results they achieved during the application.

In conclusion

When all is said and done, you will notice that some people take defeat gracefully and show humility and understanding. Others, however, tend to get angry or hang up on you. This can be a good indicator of if you made the right decisions during the selection process, or even change your mind entirely. Don’t be afraid of second-guessing yourself during this phase, because you’re just a step away from hiring someone and inviting them into your family – think about it carefully.