How to spot a stopgap candidate

We’ve all been there – thinking we’ve found the perfect person for our vacancy only for them to jump ship a few months later without any real reason or explanation.

These stopgap candidates can not only cost you valuable time and money, but can be very difficult to spot if you don’t know which signs to look out for.

Serial job jumping

Although your candidate might be very experienced and have plenty of qualifications, you might notice that they’ve had a higher than average number of jobs on their CV.

Now there might be a perfectly good reason for this, but it’s best to really scrutinize their reasons for never really settling at any company for very long at the pre-screening stage as you don’t want to be interviewing someone who doesn’t have the staying power you’re looking for.

No real interest in progression

Most employers offer at least some form of career progression route for their employees, and candidates love the idea that they can grow and advance within a company – it’s normally one of the top three things that attracts them to a vacancy in the first place.

So, when you start talking about training and developments routes to enhance their careers and don’t get the feeling that they’re all that excited, you might have a stopgap candidate on your hands.

What’s the attraction?

At the interview, employers should be focusing on what has attracted a candidate to their vacancy in order to gain some insight into their motivations and personal characteristics.

How a candidate answers ‘what attracted you to this job?’ can really illuminate the real reason why they put in an application in the first place. If their answer just mentions salary, job location, hours and fails to cover any long-term career objectives, then you should be starting to question if this professional relationship would have the longevity you’re hoping for.

For more information on how to spot a stopgap candidate, speak to the Appointments team today on 01782 338787