How to Improve Your Hiring Process by Adding These Two Steps

Isn’t it the worst when you think you’ve got the perfect candidate… and then a couple weeks later they send you that text message: “Hey, this isn’t working out for me,” and then they bounce?

If you’re nodding your head right now, you’re not alone. Fast employee turnover plagues businesses across every industry, from construction crews to marketing agencies. The emotional and financial toll hits hard: wasted training time, broken trust among your team, and the exhausting cycle of restarting the recruitment process to fill a vacant position.

After years of refining our hiring process at Digital Harvest, I’ve learned that two simple additions can dramatically improve your hiring process. These tools help you hire qualified candidates who stick around and contribute to your company culture. Let me share what we’ve discovered.

How to Improve Your Hiring Process by Adding These Two Steps by Digital Harvest on Scribd

Why Good Hires Quit Early (And How to Prevent It)

The hidden costs of bad hires extend far beyond the obvious expenses. Sure, you lose money on onboarding process investments. But the real damage comes from the ripple effects: decreased morale among current employees, increased workload, and the nagging doubt that maybe you’re not cut out for this whole hiring managers thing.

Most hiring decisions fail for predictable reasons. Candidates may ace the interviews, but then underperform in real scenarios. Some lack the soft skills needed for effective communication, while others have the technical skills but don’t align with your organization’s values.

“People are mismatched in either their skills or their inclination to the job that you’re offering them.” — Avram Gonzales, Chief Strategist of Digital Harvest

The traditional interview process tends to reward confident speakers and well-formatted resumes rather than surfacing the right qualifications for the job. That’s where the following two assessments come in. They help you identify the right skills, mindset, and cultural fit before making a job offer.

Step 1: Use a Paid Skills Test to Reveal Real Competence

What Is a Paid Skills Test?

A paid test is a short, compensated task that mimics the job description. It helps you test candidates on real-world performance instead of relying on interviews alone.

“After you’ve done your whole interview process—before you hire them—you put them to the test.”

You can customize the test to your hiring needs, whether that’s writing an email campaign, troubleshooting a technical issue, or completing a mock service call. This approach helps you find suitable candidates with problem-solving abilities and genuine interest.

How to Run One Effectively

Running a paid skills test effectively can help you find the best candidates while respecting their time and effort. Here’s how to do it step by step:

• Create a clear task aligned with your open position.
• Keep it under 2–3 hours and provide candidates with clear instructions.
• Offer fair compensation. It signals respect and professionalism.
• Apply consistent scoring to make informed decision-making easier.

Used properly, this step attracts the best candidates, respects their time, and sets the stage for a positive candidate experience.

Step 2: Use a Talent Assessment to Ensure Culture and Role Fit

What Talent Assessments Measure

Talent assessments go beyond skills. They evaluate personality, motivation, cognitive ability, and how well a person fits your team. These are the traits that matter when interviewing candidates for long-term success.

Whether you’re screening for right tools or how someone might integrate with new employees, talent assessments fill in the gaps left by the interview.

Tools to Try (CliftonStrengths, Kolbe, etc.)

At Digital Harvest, we use CliftonStrengths, a $50 user-friendly assessment tool that gives deep insight into how a person works best. Candidates complete a 30-minute evaluation that reveals their top 34 strength areas. This investment provides remarkable insights into how someone approaches work and interacts with others.

Take my business partner Rachel, for example. Her assessment clearly shows task-oriented strengths, exceptional organizational abilities, and high follow-through capacity. You can see that she’s very task-oriented, super organized and detailed, and her follow-through is really high… But if I asked her to put together a marketing campaign… that’s what I would do.

Other great options include Kolbe, Predictive Index, and DISC. These tools allow you to determine not just what a person can do, but whether they’re inclined to do it with consistency and joy.

“Just because somebody has the skills or the knowledge to do something doesn’t mean that they can do it over and over—and it doesn’t mean that they’re going to play well with others.”

These assessments reveal the difference between someone who can perform a task and someone who will naturally excel at it long-term. They also predict how well candidates will integrate with your existing team members and adapt to your organization’s culture.

How These Two Tools Work Together to Lower Turnover

Combined, skills tests and talent assessments help you identify qualified individuals with both the knowledge and temperament to thrive. They cut through the performance and get to what really matters: ability, alignment, and attitude.

This system also helps you attract candidates who are interested in doing the work, not just getting hired.

“During the interview process, people are putting their best foot forward, and they’re trying to cover up their crazy.”

The modest investment of $100–$250 per applicant can save you thousands in hiring and rehiring costs. It also protects your team from the emotional toll of losing a new hire too soon.

Don’t Forget: Onboarding Still Matters

These assessment tools help you make better hiring decisions, but they don’t guarantee success on their own. Even the most carefully selected new employees need proper onboarding to thrive in your organization.

After choosing the right candidate, your human resources system must develop them with intention. That means regular check-ins, the resources to succeed, and consistent guidance from managers.

“They have to feel welcomed and supported on the other side of you hiring them.”

Strong training and onboarding multiply the value of smart recruitment practices.

Start Building Your Better Hiring System Today

You don’t need to overhaul everything. Just assess what you’re doing now and integrate these two key components: a paid skills test and a talent assessment.

Start with one role. Focus on the gaps you’ve seen in past hires. Add structure to how you interview, test, and select the right person for the job.

If you’re ready to improve your recruitment process, Digital Harvest offers valuable resources for small businesses, employers, and organizations looking to strengthen their careers pipeline.

Better hiring is possible. All it takes is the right tools and a better process.

Got questions or want help customizing this for your company? Reach out to Digital Harvest or connect with me, Avram Gonzales on LinkedIn. I’d love to chat and help you take the next step.