4 signs of a terrible job candidate

Any company involved in staff recruitment in Dublin only wants to find the very best candidates. However, as with life in general, to get to the good stuff, you will inevitably often need to sift through the bad.

Given how costly a bad hire can be, both financially and in the sense of damaged workplace morale and productivity, you will need to be proactive in weeding out the bad candidates before they become one of your employees.

Here are four things to look out for in order to do exactly that - and in the process, find the great candidates sooner.

1. There are blots on their CV

Given the sheer extent of the late 2000s economic slowdown, both here in Ireland and across the world, it's understandable that some perfectly good candidates may have struggled to find work at certain times.

However, that doesn't mean that they should have unexplainable gaps in their CVs. If they were unemployed at some point, how did they use the time to maximise their future employability?

2. They have lousy attention to detail

What kind of candidate leaves spelling and grammatical errors in their cover letter and CV? The answer is... one whose poor attention to detail isn't likely to make them a very suitable candidate for your vacancy.

3. Their interview dress sense is poor

Sure, different companies have different cultures, and your workplace might not be a 'suit and tie' sort of place. But even so, candidates should at least research this beforehand - or, if possible, physically stop by - before turning up to the interview looking slick and polished.

4. Their references are merely good, not great

It's one thing for a referee to say that the applicant is a good person for a given position and should be hired. But it's quite another thing for that referee to declare the applicant to be superb - a person who goes beyond the call of duty in any job in which they are employed.

It goes without saying that the latter is the type of candidate that you should be after. Make sure that the referee is as enthusiastic about the candidate's personality as they are about their skills and accomplishments. Oh, and references from family members or childhood friends are a big no no.

But one more thing...

You might imagine that if the person isn't qualified for the position you're advertising for, you should bin their application at once. But could they be great for another, perhaps lower-level vacancy at your firm? Maybe they could be the ideal candidate for a future role of yours?

That's why good candidates - even if they aren't suitable right now - are still worth keeping in contact with. Who knows when you could yet have the perfect opening for them?

Webrecruit Ireland can provide you with all of the advice and services that you need to turbo-charge your staff recruitment in Dublin.

Editor’s Note: Webrecruit Ireland (http://www.webrecruitireland.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.