Hiring new staff for your company can be a daunting process for many managers and business owners.
No matter how big or small your company is, the employees you choose to hire can make or break the expansion of a firm and can have a considerable impact on your Return on Investment (ROI) in them.
From posting your initial job through to the interview stage and eventually deciding who to employ, here are a few tips to help you find the best staff for your firm.
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Choose where to advertise and promote your vacancy
Not so long ago, companies were somewhat limited where they could post job vacancies and often would rely solely on local newspapers, industry magazines or local recruitment agencies. While you can still use these channels, in the internet age, your opportunities for finding the right staff have increased substantially.
As well as posting job details on your website, you should also use social media sites like Facebook and ask your existing employees to share the post. If your budget allows, you could also consider advertising the role with specialist recruitment companies.
Write an interesting, informed and compelling job description
If you’re going to find the very best employees, you need to entice them to come and work for you. Remember, employment is very much a two-way street and, as much you will ultimately decide who you’re going to employ, the best staff will also make a decision whether they want to work with your firm.
Instead of just detailing the duties and responsibilities of the role, you should attempt to tell the story of your company, its range of operations, key skills and history. Remember, a job posting is a form of advertising and may well be seen by other companies so take the time to craft a compelling and informed job advert – one that grabs the attention of applicants and gives them a glimpse of how their future might look if they come to work for you.
Evaluate an applicant’s competency for the role
When you receive applications, the first thing you’ll need to do is weigh up the applicants’ suitability for the job you’re offering. Rather than just checking qualifications, also look for experience in previous roles or other skills they might have learned which could be put to good use in your firm.
It’s also a good idea to employ some form of HR software in your hiring process to allow you to accurately compare applicants against one another. If you simply rely on candidates sending in their CVs, it can end up very difficult to evaluate skills and sort between individuals.
Rather, using form-based software will put the application data in the same format, making it considerably easier to compare individual skills and experience side by side to find the best fit for your needs. Indeed, modern HR can often do the pre-screening for you using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure only adequately-qualified applicants get through to the interview stage.
Tips for interviewing applicants
Either using software or manually sorting entries, you should quickly get to the point where you have a shortlist of applicants you consider best-suited to the job in question and who you’ll want to call for interview. Again, there are some fixed questions you should ask, including:
Is an applicant competent?
Remember, many job-seekers use poetic license when writing their CVs and often embellish previous roles or experience. An interview is your ideal opportunity to quiz an applicant to see if they really know what they claim to.
Are they as capable as they say?
How capable is this employee to grow and develop within your organization? Remember, the best staff members tend to mature within a company and bring positive input as they progress into their role. Don’t just employ for today – think about tomorrow too.
Do they seem a good fit for your company?
Evaluate applicants against your existing staff and try to imagine the role they’ll play in your company. This includes trying to find out their style of work and whether they seem awkward or difficult.
Are they committed and dedicated workers?
Hiring and training workers eats time so it’s important you try to find employees that are committed to staying with you long term. Just a quick look at employment history can give you a fairly good idea of an applicant’s staying power but also asking why they left previous roles can give many clues to their personality.
Does their character fit with your company goals?
All companies have a particular way of doing jobs so try to evaluate if the job-seeker fits with your ethics, aims and goals.
Pay and compensation:
Most employees have a very clear idea of their worth – both from working previous roles and from checking job adverts in other companies. Consequently, you should make sure applicants are satisfied with the package you’re offering before you add them to your Payroll system. One of the most common reasons for job dissatisfaction and workers leaving companies is employees sensing they’re worth more than they’re being paid.
Hiring the right staff for your firm can make a huge difference to your turnover – however, perhaps more importantly, hiring the wrong people can bring disharmony to the workplace and cause you any number of headaches.
Following the rules above should help you attract the most skilled applicants and, eventually, turn them into employees.
