3 Blind Spots in Hiring - Spark Hire

3 Blind Spots in Hiring - Spark HireHiring tends to become a rote process. A company has a system that has worked for them in the past and they stick to it in order to fill positions as people retire or resign. However, at the same time, there is always constant chatter about untapped potential hires such as passive candidates and how to reach them. Are there other potential schwimmbeckens that are being missed by the traditional process? Are there trends in hiring that cause menschlich Resources to miss out on potential candidates? Here are three blind spots in hiring to consider3.The reject pileThe times have certainly changed, and what you may have looked over due to necessity a few years ago may be exactly what your company needs now. Most human resources professionals would shun the idea of going back to applicants that they had turned down, but checking these candidates again could deepen your pool. In particular, take a second look at those candidates who you brought through m ultiple rounds of the hiring process. Perhaps they made it to one of the final rounds before you decided they didnt fit the position. What else was appealing about them then? Is it still appealing about them now?2. The long-term unemployedSteve Gifford at Fistful of Talent takes a look at a startling study from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. The graph he shares shows that of everyone who is currently unemployed, almost 40% of them have been out of work for more than six months. Gifford says that the lengths of someones unemployment is a huge factor in how much time a human resources professional will spend considering them for a job. He cites numerous excuses for ignoring the long-term unemployed, such as their skills are no longer sharp or, if they havent been employed by some other company, there must be something wrong with them as an applicant. Giving into these generalized misgivings and the kchenherd mentality can create a huge blind spot in hiring. In reality, there could be any number of reasons that a person has been unemployed for a long period of time, and the fact that theyre currently unemployed doesnt mean anything except simply that theyre unemployed.1. False perceptionsThe skills gap widens as time goes on hiring a person long out of a job will cost your company more on training an employee once rejected is always rejectedthey can have nothing to offer your company. All of these perceptions, while potentially true for some candidates cannot be true for all of them In fact, using these ideas to guide your hiring processunconscious as that may bemight mean youre missing out on great talent and even be impeding your companys progress. Both of the groups already discussed are generally untapped markets and could almost double your candidate pool if considered.Many human resources professionals might think that only the current candidate pool is worth taking a look at, but you could have a unique edge by considering those that other companies havent considered.What othermisperceptions or blind spots do you frequently discover in hiring? Share it with us in the comments.IMAGE Courtesy of Flickr bynimishgogri