As a past owner of a recruiting company, Maureen McKinnon of McKinnon Executive Coaching has worked with hundreds of companies to hire employees and has also been in the role of an employer where she’s hired over 50+ employees.

We went to Maureen and asked her to share what an employer really wants to know to make that hiring decision and some simple yet practical tools to clarify and navigate the hiring process. Read on to find out more. 

Focus on the Basic Information 

Let’s start with the basic information required for hiring managers to make the decision on which candidate to hire. This is based on the following top 5 questions:

1. Can you do the job? 
2. Why do you want to work for my company? 
3. Will you love the job & stay? 
4. Can we tolerate working with you?  
5. Do you have the right attitude? 

Knowing that the response is “Yes” to these questions, the decision maker is more confident and comfortable in hiring the right person. In addition, they feel it decreases the risk of bringing in someone who can’t do the work at the level required or is a negative individual who will upset the existing staff and change the corporate culture negatively. 

Maureen has shared these questions with her clients and other professional women she’s worked with over the years, and these 5 questions have actually reduced the overwhelm of the hiring process and helped clarify the key information that they needed to showcase in their resume, cover letter and the interview. With these questions in mind, the professional women started to see the hiring process from a new simpler perspective.

Tips To Navigate The Hiring Process 

Next, here are some tips to help you navigate the hiring process. Using your own tools and knowledge, you’ll be able to provide the required information to the hiring managers to make a decision. 

The tools at your disposable include your resume, cover letter, interview preparation and your references. Below outlines which tool is required to answer each question. 

1. Can you do the job?

The tools required to respond to this question are: 

• Your resume, which is the main document to showcase that you can do the job. In the resume, be sure to include the successful outcomes and the results of all your projects.  
• The interview preparation and the interview helps to provide more detailed information of whether or not you can do the job. 
• Lastly, your references will be able to share their experience working with you and provide an opinion if you can do this job. 

2. Why do you want to work for my company?

Employers really want to hire people who want to work with them. They are proud of their company and want their staff to help achieve the company’s goals. The following tools will help you respond to this question: 

• Your cover letter is the perfect place to let the hiring manager know why you want to work for XYZ company. 
• The interview preparation and interview allows you to prepare and showcase how much you know about the company, their product/service and their corporate goals. Most importantly, in the interview, share why you want to join their team, the company and how you will help them with the role.

3. Will you love the job & stay? 

The following tools will help you respond to this question: 

• Your resume will provide the answer with your chronological work history. Employers will look to see if you have a track record of staying at a job. Today, due to the great resignation, some employers are looking at your work history differently. They now see if you have stayed at a job longer than 2 years. In the past, it used to be 5+ years. If you stayed less, employers like to see if the new roles get progressively more challenging with more responsibility.
• The interview will give you the opportunity to explain your decision to stay with  your current employer until now or explain your decisions to move to other companies.

Smart employers understand the cost of replacing employees and want to provide a work environment that engages and retains the employees. This is especially important due to the “Great Resignation” and the fight for talent. It is now a candidate’s job market with perks such as signing bonuses and flexible schedule. 

4. Can we tolerate working with you?

• Your resume will provide the answer with your chronological work history. If you have stayed anywhere longer than 2 years this shows some people can work with you, 
• Your references should reassure the hiring person that you are a great employee to work with, that you get along with team members, management and customers. 

5. Do you have the right attitude?

• Your cover letter will help the employer get a sense of your attitude and if you will fit in based on your work history and the language you use to describe yourself.
• The interview is also important to respond to this question. The hiring manager wants more detailed information about your work history and confirmation that you can do the job. More importantly, employers want to see if you will fit in the work environment, corporate culture, the team, the management, and customers.  Also, hiring managers also want to gage if you will be happy with the product/service the company offers and if you will be an engaged employee.

Finishing Up                                                  

The hiring process is actually much simpler than it seems if you focus on the basic information and responding to these top 5 questions with the tools and knowledge you have. Basically, you want to answer these simple questions with a “Yes you can do the job!”.

If you’d like more support to navigate the hiring process, thinking through the responses to the questions and support on the tips that I have provided above, book a FREE Career Strategy Call with Maureen today.