A main skill of a recruiter is the ability to discover the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate during the recruitment process. This allows for optimizing and significantly aiding in the selection process, as it helps companies eliminate or select the best candidates for the position they are offering.
Each job requires specific technical or theoretical knowledge and skills. Technical or theoretical knowledge can easily be assessed through analysis of candidates’ academic and work histories in their resumes. However, evaluating people’s skills and abilities is more complex. That’s why the personal interview is an important moment to assess candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.
During an interview, it can be difficult to determine a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in the selection process. This is because candidates do not usually emphasize their mistakes. Therefore, in this article, we will explain several ways to make these qualities stand out during the recruitment and selection process.
What are professional strengths and weaknesses?
Both concepts are easy to understand, although they can be difficult to learn and identify for recruiters in practice. Strengths are the applicant’s positive skills, abilities, or attitudes that make them the best choice for the desired position.
Strengths and weaknesses can apply both to the work environment and to the personal sphere. When evaluating these qualities, a wide range of factors should be considered, such as:
- Customs
- Values
- Personality
- Experience
- Training
- Interpersonal skills
- Intrapersonal skills
On the other hand, when we talk about weaknesses, we refer to skills, abilities, or attitudes that could negatively affect the work or even the company itself.
Speaking of weaknesses, here are 3 examples of them:
- Timidity: In a job interview, it can be a weakness to be unable to speak in public or perform in crucial moments.
- Lack of work experience: Having no work experience can be considered a weakness during the selection process.
- Resistance to change: The inability to adapt to changes in the workplace can be an obstacle for a candidate’s selection process.
How to evaluate strengths and weaknesses?
Before the interview, the human resources department should prepare a checklist of the qualities required for the proposed position. That is, it should create sample employee profiles for positions and define their strengths and weaknesses.
It is important to know what skills and abilities will benefit the position and the company, and which ones may be harmful. This will make it easier for you to identify both during the candidates’ interview.
It is also important to establish and identify professional and personal strengths and weaknesses. Psychometric, intelligence, and aptitude tests can be conducted to select the most suitable candidates for the job.
It is important to keep in mind that candidates arrive at interviews prepared and “trained” to give the best answer to the company. That’s why the recruiter must use their psychology and sixth sense to decipher and see the candidate’s true personality.
It is true that no one can be 100% honest in an interview, but there are certain aspects we can observe that will help us understand their true personality.
- Asking questions about the candidate:
It is common for candidates to try to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses during the interview. However, there are questions you can ask them that don’t give them enough time to find the right answer, which can lead to them revealing additional information about themselves without knowing it. For example, you can ask the following questions: What do your enemies think about you?, What do you think of religions? With this type of questions, you can identify the appropriateness and transparency of their answers.
- Evaluating their body language:
It is said that nonverbal language can express 80% of what we want to say. This means that a candidate’s oral response only has a 20% chance of being true. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the candidate’s nonverbal language during the selection process.
Aspects such as sitting position, hand placement, appearance, or position can say a lot about an applicant. For example, a person who does not look in the face when speaking may appear shy or insincere in their verbal responses. Similarly, sitting in the wrong position can indicate a lack of formality and professionalism in the current conversation.
This type of nonverbal behavior can be considered a weakness and it is not beneficial for an organization to have professionals with these characteristics.
In this way, you can quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of candidates during the recruitment and selection process. This allows you to evaluate candidates more effectively based on their results in tests.
As mentioned earlier, other tools used to identify candidates’ strengths and weaknesses are:
Logical reasoning tests:
An effective way to identify candidates’ strengths and weaknesses during the selection process is through a logical reasoning test. This is mainly because the answers provided by the candidate will allow you to evaluate several characteristics about them, such as:
- Conflict resolution speed
- Efficiency in decision-making
- Security during the performance of activities
At Evalart, we have different logical reasoning tests, including the “Classic General IQ Test.”
There are several psychometric tests that can provide information about a candidate’s skills. They can also help identify psychological traits that the applicant may not have shown during the interview.
At Evalart, we have a wide catalog of tests applicable and relevant for the different recruitment processes present in an organization.
The recruitment process is very important for companies to acquire effective assets. It is necessary to take care of this process and use the best available tools to make it more efficient. With the above, you will be able to identify the relevant aspects to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate.