If there’s one challenge that worries small business owners and large business owners, it’s the challenge of hiring employees.
One employee can catapult a company forward. But the wrong employee can also cause the company to suffer.
As a result, once you’ve got a stable team you want to make sure you can maintain its stability. When you want to hire an employee you want to invest your time in cultivating them.
So how do you find a great new employee? How do you prepare a new hire for your company?
Here’s what you should do:
Choose Your Criteria
Your first step should be to prepare an employee new hire checklist. On this checklist, you will write down the criteria you want in your new hire.
There will be specific criteria based on the position, but you must create a set of core values that you expect from all employees.
Here’s an example of what you might want as your criteria:
- What type of personality are you looking for?
- Are there difficult personalities you’d rather not deal with?
- What general skills do you want?
- Is this candidate a good listener?
- Do they consider input from others?
- Do they know how to make executive decisions?
- Is it likely that they’ll stay long within your company?
Make sure you check off these criteria when looking at each candidate. In an ideal situation, the candidate should check off all boxes. Only after they do should you consider hiring them.
Creating a Job Application
Next, you want to work on your job application. Within your job application, you have to share the criteria for your ideal employee.
While you do have to put the job requirements, you also want to test out the type of person you want. For example, do you need an employee who’ll get trusted to make executive decisions?
You want to indicate that you need a candidate with experience as a team leader. You want to indicate that this candidate has previous experience with running a department.
If you have a difficult personality you’d rather avoid, don’t hesitate to include this in the job application. While this frankness will put some candidates off, it’ll attract the right candidates to apply for the job.
Make sure you look through similar job applications and try to differentiate yourself from them. If you are hiring for a Senior Accountant, for example, look at similar applications for this position.
Try to make your job application stand out among similar applications. Your candidates might spend days filling out similar applications. When they come across one that’s unique, they’ll take their time to impress you with their application.
Finding Talent
To hire an employee who’ll benefit your company, you’ve got to attract the right talent.
Many companies make the mistake of posting job applications wherever possible. This will attract thousands of candidates but make it hard to filter out the mediocre ones.
Your goal should be to send a job application to a select few candidates. Start by reaching out to professionals whom you know.
If you have a specific person whom you’d like to hire reach out to them and ask if they’re interested. You can also search for professionals through networking websites such as LinkedIn.
You can send them direct messages to request them to apply for your job. You can also post your job application directly to your LinkedIn company page. This is likely to only attract candidates who are interested in your company or your industry.
A third option is to recruit solely through word-of-mouth. Go to networking events to find your talent.
If you speak to a professional whom you like, ask them if they’d consider applying to your job. Or you can take them out for a business lunch to offer the position to them.
The Interview
During the interview process, you can assess the criteria. If you also need to assess for skills, then request two separate interview sessions. To hire an employee that matches your team, you need a separate occasion to assess if they fit in.
Ask them “situational” questions on how they’ll handle potential scenarios. Their answers should help you determine if they meet your criteria. For example, you might need someone who takes input from others but also knows when to make executive decisions.
You can ask them “Give me an example of when you considered input from your team?” You can also ask them, “When did you have to override other’s input to make an executive decision?” You might also want to have your candidate have multiple “team match” interviews.
This means that existing team members can interview the candidate to see if they’re a good fit. You can then all discuss your assessment of the candidate before making a hiring decision.
Employee Onboarding
Once you hire an employee, you have to take time to mold them for your team. The onboarding process is the only time you’ll have to do this. It’s best to find a great employee onboarding software such as https://workbright.com/employee-onboarding-software/ to help you prepare the onboarding process beforehand.
Make sure you teach your new hire about what your company’s core values are. This is the time to let them know what you expect from them. Part of the onboarding process can also include role-playing.
Or you can request your new hire complete small tasks for a project. This way you can assess the new hire’s performance. If there are any issues, now is the time to address them.
You’re Ready to Hire an Employee
Follow the steps in this guide and you’ll be ready to hire an employee. Sit down with a team or department to help you prepare your criteria.
Make sure you ask everyone what they think will make a great match to the team. Once you’ve written down your criteria, you can start scouting talent. Even after you find the perfect fit, make sure you spend time on the onboarding process.
This is your best chance to cultivate them for the team. If you notice any issues, this is the best time to part ways and start your search again.
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