How to Choose Between Two Outstanding Candidates

  • 1 min read
Hiring Resume

The need to choose between two outstanding candidates is an interesting and a desirable dilemma for employers. However, as an employer, you need to act fast and decide which one to hire. If you don’t know how to decide between the two, below you can find some ideas.

  • Try to Find Out Who is More Eager to Work for You: Try to determine how badly they want to work for you. They can both seem eager but one might be already employed and looking to make a move just to get out of the status quo or be able to negotiate a higher salary and the other one might be unemployed for months and is eager to start a new job. If you can hire the more eager candidate, chances are s/he will work harder and stay longer in your company.
  • Look at Their Past Experiences Carefully: Examine their resumes carefully and see how often they stay in one job. If they hop jobs frequently, then, it means that they can also quit working for you easily. Try to think long term. Look also for their skills and see whose skills match more with your future plans. Try to determine whether they are open to learn new skills and develop themselves. Moreover, businesses are changing rapidly and therefore, try to assess whether they are open to change.
  • See Who Fits the Culture: Invite each candidate to lunch or coffee. In this way, you can talk with them in a more relaxed setting and outside of the formal office environment. You don’t need to be alone; you can also take a few team members with you so you have a chance to see which candidate will get along better with your team. During this informal meeting, you can also see more of the personality of the candidates and decide easier which one will be a better fit for your company.

If you still cannot decide who to hire, then hire both of them. Think this way, good candidates are hard to find and you have already found two so why not push the limits to work with both of them. There may be budgeting issues or organizational problems to hire two candidates but do your best to convince your higher-ups. If you can hire both of them, make sure you differentiate their roles or at least make them work on different projects. In this way, you can get an advantage of their skills in the best possible manner.

Picture of Ceren Cubukcu

Ceren Cubukcu

Ceren Cubukcu is a top 5 bestselling author of Make Your American Dream A Reality: How to Find a Job as an International Student in the United States. She recently founded her consulting business to help more international students find jobs in the US in addition to her self-service digital event ticketing platform, Etkinlik Fabrikam (My Event Factory), to offer her webinars. 

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