How Can You Evaluate a Candidate’s Reliability?

When evaluating IT candidates, it is important to focus on their skills and experience; however, many hiring managers overlook reliability. Talent is important, but it means nothing if the employee isn’t reliably making a positive impact on the team and the organization. Use these strategies to uncover a candidate’s reliability in the interview.

Use Clues from the Interview

You can glean a lot from basic interview behaviors. Did the candidate arrive early? Did they take the time to conduct research about the company? Did they ask questions that show they listened throughout the interview? Indicators like these don’t provide a whole picture of reliability, but they can provide insight.

Ask the Right Questions

Leverage good interview questions like these, which speak to a candidate’s reliability:

• What do you do when the clock strikes five, but your daily work is not complete? Reliable employees can be counted on to stay a little longer to complete their tasks in order to keep IT projects on track.
• What do you do when you’re given instructions you disagree with? Disagreements are common in the workplace and differing opinions can be valuable, but it is important to find reliable candidates who know how to pick their battles.
• Have you ever let personal issues impact your work? Everyone experiences personal hardships from time to time, but reliable people do their best to leave their personal issues at home and focus on the task at hand.
• Tell me about a situation when it’s okay to be late for work. The fact is, it is acceptable to be late for work if an employee runs into an unexpected traffic issue or if there is some sort of emergency at home. But reliable people are only late when issues like those – which are outside their control – occur. They also take responsibility for such unexpected issues by calling their supervisor immediately and letting them know what is going on.

Ask References About Reliability

The only way to know for sure how a candidate performed in the past is to conduct reference checks. Many employers gloss over this step but taking a few minutes to ask critical questions can prevent you from making a poor hiring decision. Always ask about a candidate’s character and job performance, including reliability.

Work with a Recruiting Partner

Niche IT staffing and recruiting firms spend a lot of time conducting due diligence before they present a candidate to you. They’ve asked the probing questions, conducted reference and background checks, and in the case of consultants, they have past assignment performance to use as “proof” of reliability.

At PEAK Technical Consulting, we have a proven track record of helping employers overcome some of their biggest IT hiring challenges, and we invite you to contact us today to learn more about the ways we can help you find talented, reliable tech talent.

About PEAK

PEAK Technical Consulting is a leading provider of IT and technical talent, offering contract staffing, contract-to-hire and direct hire solutions throughout the United States. With nearly 50 years of technical recruiting experience, we are committed to delivering real value to our clients by providing the resources, support and solutions they need to succeed.

PEAK consistently delivers top talent for even tough-to-fill positions.

If you are looking for skilled, experienced IT professionals to help your business grow and prosper, contact the IT recruiting experts at PEAK Technical Staffing today.