What does it mean to be a good leader during this global health crisis? Many people have lost their jobs due to the financial crisis brought about by the global pandemic. Many individuals continue to seek new opportunities during these challenging times. Despite the many applicants that have come up due to this demand, as a leader, you should maintain your quality standard for screening potential candidates.
Hiring a driven team of individuals nowadays has been difficult due to the current crisis. Everyone is trying their best to be qualified for the job they seek, but even those who have been fortunate enough to keep their jobs may not have fully adjusted to the whole remote work setup.
Despite the potential burnout that remote work may entail, there are steps that you can take to alleviate symptoms of burning out from working during this pandemic. Screening potential new hires may have become a tedious task, but, as a leader, you should not let this be a hindrance to your goal of getting a new team of strong workers.
What can you do to acquire and keep a strong team of fighters during this time?
Screening Time
It is a tedious process, but screening individuals in this pandemic is essential to ensure resources are not wasted on the wrong candidate. Your resources are of utmost value nowadays because of their possibly limited quantity. Smart decisions will allow you to manage resources well.
In screening applicants, there are services you can use to help you thoroughly screen each individual. With the influx of applicants, you may not have enough time to screen each one manually. By partnering with a service like SkillFuel, you will be able to screen candidates efficiently in no time.
During the screening process, what are the things you should look for in each candidate?
Potential Red Flags
If you are looking for your dream team in your business, be clear in your goals and set your standards accordingly. When looking at a potential employee’s resume, there are red flags that you should watch out for.
Given that you are in a remote work setup, your knowledge of your applicant roster may be limited. Looking at their resume and spotting absent details that should be there is one way you can identify if a candidate is a right fit for your given role.
One of these red flags is finding many spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes in their resume. Providing enough attention to detail is an essential characteristic of any employee. Although this can be debatable as mistakes can happen at any point of the applicant’s hiring process, this is an error that the applicant should avoid entirely, especially if they know that they are going against many other applicants for the same position.
If the applicant has failed to follow simple directions of their application process, it is an automatic red flag for some very strict employers. Not only will this invalidate their application, but it also shows their inability to comprehend simple instructions. One of the mistakes that candidates make is not providing a cover letter in their application. This may indicate laziness to even exert enough effort into the job application.
While these are some red flags that could indicate a bad candidate for your job opening, take these only as a loose guide on choosing a potential candidate. Although these lapses could mean laziness and sloppiness, in these challenging times, these lapses may be forgivable. It all depends on your process and value as an employer.
How to Lead a Strong Team
Although hiring a good roster of team players in your company is good for business, having an efficient and productive team may also rely on your leadership. Being a good leader means leading a team despite all odds, and despite the dreadful situation we are currently facing. How can you become a good leader during this time?
During these tough times, you should have the courage and humility to seek help from others in your team. Even before the pandemic, this has already been an essential factor in leadership. Getting the team to express their opinion on important matters is vital in promoting accountability and dialogue between employers and employees.
Always think of the bigger picture when making decisions, especially in these crucial times. You can do so by including the team in the decision-making process and the critical dialogues within the company. Getting a different perspective will allow you to widen your horizons and potentially find new solutions to old problems.
Hiring a new team of players is a difficult task, especially in this pandemic. That should not keep you from maintaining your standards of quality as an employer. Nevertheless, a good team does not solely rely on the players; it also depends on good leadership that takes into account each member of the family.