When it comes to hiring people, we tend to have a positive outlook and hope for the person who we may be interviewing or considering for a position. While this may normally seem like a healthy approach to selecting people, it can actually lead to many challenges down the road with employees that are hired. 

Here are some things that we can be aware of when it comes to hiring new people: 

Fixed Character 

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks! This simply means that people already have intrinsic characteristics that they are born with or have grown up with that cannot necessarily change. It is an innate behavior that as much as someone may try to hide, it will come out one way or another. This is why we must look beyond the first impressions of an interviews. 

Perceptions 

As humans we always have certain perceptions of people and while this is not always a bad thing, it is definitely something that we can’t rely on because we have misconceptions and flaws in our perceptions of people. Our human nature is to give someone the benefit of the doubt and if they have made mistakes, we usually give them second chances whether they deserve them or not. 

Honor People 

As employers, we can get caught up in the hustle and bustle of a job and we can forget to pause and honor the very people we work with. By recognizing the excellence of your employees, it will boost positivity and morale within a company. This will also add incentive for great work from your employees. 

Ask situational questions 

In interviews, we tend to ask about the employee’s qualities and skills rather than how they handle situations that may be thrown at them in a workplace. It is important to as these questions because you can get a better view of who they may be as a person and the weight of their responses within certain situations. 

Change up the environment 

Interviewing someone outside of an office is pretty interesting and different, but it can be very eye-opening in terms of how the interviewee behaves socially. If you take them to a coffee shop observe how they act around people taking their order, are they rude? Are they socially awkward? Maybe they were incredibly kind. This type of scenario leaves room for the interviewer to observe them in their normal behaviors rather than in an interview. 

At the end of the day, interviewers will have their own style of how they want to proceed with their interviewee. These are only a few things that we can do to gain a better understanding and a different perspective of what your interviewee may be like and what they may bring to your company’s table.