4 Things to do When you Disagree With a Team Member on Hiring a Candidate

Interviewing and making hiring decisions can be challenging in your small business, especially when you and your colleagues do not always see eye-to-eye.

If you have a candidate you believe is the right fit for your company, but your team member disagrees, there are several things to do in order to ensure the right decision is made.

1. Review and discuss the job description again

Your job description is always your home base when interviewing candidates.  This description should outline the key things that you expect from the candidate when it comes to skills and experience.

Hopefully, you and your colleague both contributed to and approved the job description early on, prior to searching for the candidate.  This will ensure that you are both on the same page from the beginning and should make it easier to collaborate and come to a decision.

Sit down with your colleague and review the job description in order to make sure that nothing has changed in the requirements and that you are both still on the same page.

2. Review and discuss the candidate

After reviewing the job description, it’s important to then take a look at the candidate.  Does the candidate have the skills and experience required in your job description?

Consider the job duties from the job description and the candidate’s ability to do the job accurately.

Discuss the culture of your small business and how the candidate would fit in with that culture.

3. Understand each opinion

Once you’ve discussed and agreed on the job description and the candidate’s profile, it’s time to make sure that you each understand the other’s opinions and thoughts.

Talk with your colleague about why he doesn’t feel you should hire the candidate.  Perhaps there is something that you missed or did not pick up on throughout the interview process.

If there are any red flags that you or your colleague noticed, this is the time to address and discuss those candidate red flags.

4. Create a pro’s & con’s list on the candidate

Finally, with your colleague, make a pro’s and con’s list on the candidate.  It’s important to be very thorough in this step and for you and your colleague to get everything out on the table.

Once you have completed this list, review and come to a compromise with your colleague.  If your colleague still has doubts, perhaps you should wait on making an offer or establish a temporary evaluation period for the candidate upon immediate hire.

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How do you collaborate with your team on hiring decisions?  Please share your tips in the comments below.