Your employees are the backbone of your business. They’re the ones on the front line interacting with customers, pushing sales, and spreading brand awareness. As they say, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, so you want to ensure all of your employees are top-notch. This means you need to have a thorough hiring process to ensure you don’t hire someone who’s unmotivated, creates a toxic work environment, or doesn’t have the skills or knowledge to get the job done. As you begin your search process for your next hire, make sure you take a look at the four do’s and four don’t for hiring for your business below.
Do’s for Hiring for Your Business
1. Post a thorough job description
Your job description is what’s going to draw applicants in. If your job description isn’t detailed, it can prevent top talent from even applying. That’s why you want to make sure you provide all the necessary information that explains the role and duties of the job. Consider adding these components to your job description:
- Summary: Your summary will be a brief overview of the job and will also provide information about the company and why you’re hiring.
- Duties: Under the duties section, make a bulleted list of tasks that the applicant can expect to perform on a day to day basis.
- Skills: The skills section should include a list of skills or knowledge a candidate should have in order to qualify for the role.
- Qualifications: The qualifications section should list all of the qualifications necessary for the job, such as licenses, educational degrees, certifications, and experience.
There are many job description templates online you can use when drafting a job description for the role at your company.
2. Post on job hiring sites
Once your job description is complete, it’s time to get it out into the world. One of the best ways to attract a large pool of applicants is by listing the opening on a job hiring site. While newspaper ads can be effective, they only reach local talent. To reach a broader audience, consider posting on one of these sites:
- Glassdoor
- Indeed
- Monster
- Craigslist
These sites all allow you to post job descriptions and can help you find quality talent that can help take your business to the next level.
3. Conduct multiple rounds of interviews
Someone may look good on paper, but you’ll never know until you meet them in person. As you begin to receive applications, take time to read each resume and cover letter, and make a pile of qualified candidates and unqualified candidates.
From there, reach out to those who made your qualified candidate list and conduct the first round of telephone interviews. Once you’ve held a series of telephone interviews, narrow your candidate pool by bringing in the remaining candidates for in-person interviews. During in-person interviews, ask pertinent questions related to the role and have team members have a chance to speak to each candidate, too. Your current employees are the ones going to be working closely with the new hire, so it’s important they have a say in the hiring process.
4. Run a background check
Finally, once you’ve narrowed down your search to one or two candidates, run a background check to ensure they are who they say they are. A background check can give you peace of mind knowing your employee doesn’t have a history riddled with crimes or other qualities that can prove troublesome in the workplace. There are plenty of sites where you can get a free background check to run on new hires and current employees.
Don’ts for Hiring for Your Business
1. Hire just to fill a vacant spot
In some cases, you may need to fill a role immediately. Maybe your top angular designer quit on the spot without warning, or perhaps you signed on a large client and don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the workload. Whatever the case may be, you don’t want to hire the first person who applies for the job. Making a wrong hire can end up costing your business a lot of money, and can even hurt your brand if they don’t have the skills to effectively communicate with clients, work with team members, or complete a task diligently. No matter how bad you need to fill a role, make sure to take your time to find the perfect match.
2. Spend money when you don’t need to
Looking for new hires can be costly. Before you pay fees to post multiple job listings on job hiring sites, make sure to sit down and determine whether you need to spend money in the first place. Before putting up job postings, create a referral program for your employees to recommend people for the open position. Often, your employees will recommend someone they believe will do a great job. If you end up choosing a referral, you can reward the employee with a bonus or a gift for referring the new hire. If this tactic doesn’t prove successful, you can then start posting on job hiring sites.
3. Waste time looking for the perfect candidate
As a business owner or manager, you have a lot on your plate. Spending hours on end searching for the perfect candidate can take away from your work at hand. Instead of wasting time looking for a new hire, get help from a freelance job recruiter who can do the job for you. They have experience finding qualified candidates and often have a pipeline of recruits they work with that they can recommend.
4. Expect applicants to meet all requirements
When you post your job description, it’s unlikely that a candidate will check every box. This is why you shouldn’t expect a candidate to meet every qualification you list on your job description. Waiting to find a candidate that meets every requirement can keep you waiting forever. Instead, look for candidates who have unique experiences they can bring to the table. They may be able to offer new ideas and innovations that you may not have thought of and can end up being a great addition to your team.
As you can see, hiring for your business can be a headache. Knowing the do’s and don’ts of hiring can ensure you find an excellent new team member for your company.
