---
title: Six Recruiting Mistakes You Don't Want to Make
description: No agriculture recruitment plan is perfect, but avoid these six common mistakes to find better talent and more success in your hiring process.
image: https://blog.aghires.com/hubfs/Blog%20Images2020/istock-932942808-sm.jpg
---
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# Six Recruiting Mistakes You Don't Want to Make
7 Minute Read
Posted by [Ryan Young](https://blog.aghires.com/author/ryan-young)
Tags: [Hiring Advice](https://blog.aghires.com/tag/hiring-advice)
Recruiting mistakes often include underusing job advertising, skipping candidate pre-screening, poor interview preparation, failing to market the company, relying only on interview talk, and limiting the candidate pool. For hiring managers, recruiters, and agricultural business owners trying to fill farm and ag roles, those errors can drive talent away, slow hiring, and waste time and money in a market where good candidates are hard to win.
An effective recruitment process is quite in-depth and well-thought-out. It needs certain preparation, time and money invested. A well-organized recruitment process should be able to find and select the talent the company needs in 4-8 weeks for most positions.
However, recruiters often make mistakes that drive talent away. Common recruiting mistakes can range from vague job descriptions, rushing the process, and not asking the right questions to merely your attitude towards the candidate. No recruitment plan can be perfect, but avoiding these 6 mistakes—underusing job advertising, neglecting pre-screening, weak interview preparation, poor company marketing, one-sided interviews, and restricting the candidate pool—will help you hire more efficiently and attract higher quality candidates.
## 1. Not Maximizing Job Advertising
Candidates have many choices on where they can look for jobs. An[ag recruiting](https://aghires.com/) process is greatly supported by job advertising. One of the biggest mistakes hiring managers make is only posting their job on their own website or in one place, and letting the candidates come to them. In this type of job market, you can't sit back and wait.
Consider posting your job on niche job boards such as AgHires to attract industry talent. Also post your opportunities on social media, whether that is your company's pages or a third party. Make sure your job descriptions clearly outline key responsibilities and qualifications so candidates understand the right role before applying. [Learn more](https://blog.aghires.com/hiring-advice-blog/using-social-media-to-recruit-for-your-agribusiness) about using social media to recruit for your ag business.
You can also utilize AgHires'[candidate sourcing and recruiting services](https://aghires.com/#hiring-solutions) where recruiters will reach out to passive candidates on your behalf and attract them to your opening.
## 2. Not Pre-screening
Pre-screening candidates can save a lot of time. It's recommended to talk on the phone with candidates before inviting them for in-person interviews. All you need is 15 minutes with a candidate on the phone to determine if they meet the basic requirements of the job, are a potential culture fit, and support better hiring decisions before the interview stage. Having a candidate come to your location and discover they don't even have the experience or practical skills you need could be off-putting. Plus, you'll save time where you could have been interviewing someone who would have been a better fit.
An applicant tracking system can help manage screening and keep the process organized.
## 3. Not Preparing for the Interview
It is as much of a duty for the company or interviewer to prepare for the interview as it is for the candidate. In industries as intricate as agriculture, you can't depend on basic questions. During the planning of the recruitment process, you must prepare a structured list of behavioral questions that are[tailored to each type of position](https://blog.aghires.com/hiring-advice-blog/how-to-tailor-your-interview-questions-per-role). Questions should not just be about evaluating the skills and experience of the candidate. Structured interviews improve hiring decision accuracy. Using unstructured interviews allows personal preferences to influence hiring decisions. Try to also ask a few questions to gauge the personality of the candidate. People tend to favor those who are similar to themselves, so use consistent questions and scoring to encourage candidates to give comparable answers. This also helps assess cultural fit and whether someone will align with the[company's culture.](https://blog.aghires.com/hiring-advice-blog/how-to-discover-if-a-candidate-fits-your-agribusiness-or-farms-culture) In fact, [89%](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/89-hiring-failures-due-poor-culture-fit-business-aviation-maintenance-rhuwc/) of hiring failures are due to poor cultural fit.
## 4. Not Marketing the Company
Candidates want to know more about an organization beyond the job description. While your job posting should include a few sentences to summarize who you are and what you do, the right candidates are going to dig deeper to search for more information. They are likely going to search for your website and social media profiles to assess your employer brand and your company's reputation before applying. That's why having an online presence is crucial to enhance your recruiting efforts and attract the right talent. If you don't have a website or social media page, try your best to paint a good picture of your organization in your job description. Many companies neglect candidate experience, and poor communication can hurt hiring success; in fact, [47% of candidates withdraw](https://www.dover.com/blog/candidate-experience-guide-best-practices) due to poor communication.
Interviews are also an appropriate time and place to provide the candidate with further information about your company and highlight why they should want to work for you, while maintaining clear, timely communication throughout the hiring process to strengthen your branding.
Remember that during the interview process, candidates are vetting your company just as much as you're vetting them, and great candidates or top talent may lose interest if the process is slow or unclear. You still need to “sell” your company and the job, so be prepared to talk about what makes you better to work for than the competition.
For leadership positions,[executive recruiting](https://info.aghires.com/executive-recruiting) can help you identify candidates who not only bring experience but also embody your company's values.
## 5. Interviews are All Talk
Contrary to popular belief, a job interview should not just be about talking, because practical assessments and structured interviews do a better job of predicting future job performance than conversation alone, and failing to assess practical skills may not predict performance well. Have the candidate walk with you around your operation. In the agriculture and[food production](https://info.aghires.com/food-production-and-food-processing-recruiting) industry, you can walk the interviewee through many of the ongoing processes of the day. This will give you an opportunity to ask more questions, encourage candidates to give more specific, real-world answers, and determine how well the candidate will fit in with your day-to-day operation, and give the candidate a visual of where they would be working. This is also a great opportunity to have them meet some of your current team members and see how they interact, since involving existing employees can help assess cultural fit and fit with the existing team; about [74% of hires](https://www.dover.com/blog/candidate-experience-guide-best-practices) are impacted by poor cultural fit, and ignoring it can raise turnover rates and lead to bad hires.
## 6. Limiting Your Candidate Pool
Before you start shortlisting, it is important to build up a significant candidate pool. The more options you have, the better chance you have of finding the type of talent you are seeking and making room for great hires instead of settling too quickly. This is also helpful if your first round of recruitment fails to yield results. You can always go back to your pool and reopen the search process, and you will already have candidates to work with rather than starting over. Trying to fill open positions too fast can force a rushed decision and lead to more hiring mistakes, and organizations that prioritize speed see 11% higher error rates. If you close off your options right from the beginning, you are likely to settle for less-than-ideal candidates.
Companies with lengthy hiring processes can also lose top talent. Tracking metrics such as time-to-fill and quality-of-hire can reveal where to improve and support more successful recruitment over time.
At AgHires, we know that recruiting for your farm or agriculture business is a big undertaking. That's why we're here to do the heavy lifting! Our team of expert[ag recruiters](https://aghires.com/) are ready to tackle even your toughest hiring challenges with a tailored-to-you strategy. We serve as an extension of your team and use strategic messaging to attract top agriculture talent. Learn more about our [ag recruitment services](https://aghires.com/#hiring-solutions) and [schedule a time to meet with us](https://info.aghires.com/meetings/aghires/schedule-time-with-aghires-sales-team?uuid=e0d02789-8359-42d3-9e0d-de553390b115).
Avoid these common recruiting mistakes so you can hire the best talent for your agribusiness!
### [Ryan Young](https://blog.aghires.com/author/ryan-young)
Ryan Young is the Chief Revenue Officer at AgHires. With over 20 years of Marketing and Sales experience, Ryan has helped grow AgHires from start-up to what it is today. Ryan enjoys working closely with clients recommending talent solutions to grow their talent pipeline and ultimately grow their businesses. AgHires is a leader in recruiting and job advertising within the agriculture, agribusiness, food production, produce, food processing, and horticulture industries.
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