4 Types of Candidates All Great Recruiters Avoid

Are you looking for all-star talent? You probably won’t find it in these four all-too-familiar types of candidates.

No matter your industry or company size, your HR department will at some point become inundated with applicants that don’t fit the bill. And the sooner you can eliminate the ones that stand out for all the wrong reasons, the more time you can devote to candidates who could potentially earn the new employee badge.

Weeding out the misfits isn’t always as easy as looking at a resume. But after a single interview with the following three types of candidates, seasoned HR managers and entry level recruiters alike will realize that their biggest selling point is how they look on paper:

4 Types of Job Seekers That Make the Worst Employees

The Well-Rehearsed Actor

Does your candidate provide a quick answer for every question? Do the answers seem like they came from a textbook? Do you detect any conviction in their responses?

All candidates want to nail their interview, so much so that some resort to researching your company’s interview process online. And with the copious amount of easily accessible articles on interview skills, common interview questions, and tips and tricks, candidates can prepare themselves for the big Q&A like never before.

But there is such a thing as over-preparedness. Candidates who give generic answers they think the recruiter wants to hear can mean they don’t trust their own interview prowess and instead turn to internet “cheat sheets” to sound more confident and capable. Hint: If the answers sound too good to be true, they probably are.

The Job Hopper

Six months here, twelve months there, and a whopping 2 years at their last employer – if this is your candidate’s resume, you might be dealing with a job hopper.

Short tenures in and of themselves are not a red flag. The Millennial generation is more likely to have job hopped more than the previous generation as a result of the economy and lack of jobs. Therefore, you must decide on a case by case basis if short tenures warrant legitimate concern. Is the candidate unmotivated? Do they loathe change in the workplace? Did they get a poor annual review? Do they constantly search for greener pastures?

The Job Squatter

Similar to the ‘Job Hopper,’ the ‘Job Squatter’ is not necessarily a sure option. When someone spends too much time with a single employer, it can signal complacency. Loyalty is a wonderful quality to have, but if it stifles a candidate’s ability to advance their skill-set, it can become detrimental to their future employment prospects.

The best recruiters know to look for candidates who have steadily advanced their careers, even if they have been employed with the same company. They know how to spot career progression through increased responsibility, promotions, and department/title changes. It is a huge red flag if a candidate has held the same position with the same employer with the same level of responsibility for a long time.

The Unprepared Candidate

Wrinkled shirt, no pen, mussed hair, typos on resume – the lack of attention to detail makes you wonder how badly they want the job. Unpreparedness does not always assume the form of physical appearance. With internet access only a smartphone away, candidates can – and should – look into the companies they have applied to and prepare questions to ask during the interview. Unfortunately, many candidates still fail to recognize the importance of self-initiated research and arrive to their interview without a clue as to what the company actually does.

Every employee, regardless of job title, acts as a representative to your company. And if a candidate can only market themselves as partially prepared, you can only expect them to perform their job in much the same way.