Hiring the right person shouldn’t be done hastily. Your decision could have a lot of bearing on the overall growth and direction of your company. Beyond transferrable skills, you want to hire someone who fits with your company culture. You want someone who will stick around, who will solve problems rather than create them. In order to find that truly stellar employee, you need to have a good strategy in place. Here are seven ways to ensure you’re making the right hiring decision:
1. Take the time to write a thoughtful job description. – You want your job description to act as a magnet for high performers. Job descriptions that primarily focus on general skills such as business development or bookkeeping will have you flooded with run-of-the-mill resumes. Think about the type of candidate you need for things to flow seamlessly and the kinds of things might appeal to them. Make sure to speak to attributes and characteristics that compliment your company culture. And remember, you’re not only promoting the position, you’re also promoting your company and everything it represents. Everyone wants to work in an exceptional environment. Use your company’s assets to beckon candidates of a higher caliber.
2. Bench warm candidates. – It will be a lot easier when you go to hire someone if you already have top talent waiting in the wings. Even when you’re not scrounging to fill a position, you should always be interviewing so you know who’s in the talent pool.
3. Use various methods to reach out to candidates. – Use the least expensive methods first, such as the company’s career site and job boards like Craigslist and Monster.com, and if that’s ineffective, work up to more expensive approaches such as retained recruiters.
4. Don’t just focus on transferable skills. – Companies often look for candidates with the required transferrable skills coming from different industries because it’s believed that they’ll bring new ideas and inject a fresh approach. What is often overlooked is the type of working environment that made the candidate successful. For example, a top sales person working for a company that sells energy products is hired by a supply chain company. The supply chain company believes that the same transferable skills (prospecting, identifying markets, objection handing and closing business) used to make him top sales in his former company will make him top in theirs.
The business model that made him a top salesperson in the energy business is very different than that of the supply chain. The supply chain company will need to bridge the gap through training, behavioral modification, coaching, etc., to help the candidate transition to the new sales cycle. Their organization may not be able to meet those needs. Their training may be lax or they may only rely on job shadowing as their training platform. The company needs to identify the process and procedures the candidate has used to be successful and assess the possible gaps in their own company’s processes.
5. Don’t let the interview process drag on. – Too often, companies are stunted when it comes to making the final call. This causes star candidates to lose interest and move on. And it sends a very negative message. The implication to candidates left hanging on is that this is how they’re likely to be treated once they’re hired.
You want to make hiring decisions thoughtfully yet swiftly. Have your interview team in place with a clear timeline. You don’t want to start interviewing only to be intercepted by travel or vacation schedules from colleagues that are crucial to the decision making process. It serves no one well when the candidate asks when you anticipate a decision and you don’t have an answer.
6. Be genuine when interviewing. – This may be hard if you’re interviewing candidates back to back. However, the more engaged you are in the interview process, the more successful the outcome. Whether your interview style is situational, behavioral or conversational, when you ask questions that aren’t rigid or rehearsed, it’s more likely that the candidate will share details of substance.
7. Go beyond the references the candidate provides. – These references were strategically selected by the candidate and are likely to be biased or briefed on what to say. If you want impartial insight, the kind that allows you to properly assess whether the candidate is likely to be an asset to your company, you need to tap into your network or find someone at the organization where the candidate worked that isn’t on their reference list. You may also find someone who can give you an honest take on the candidate through LinkedIn or other social media sites. You don’t want to do anything that is problematic for the candidate, so do be careful and confidential when seeking out additional references.
What methods have you used to make good hiring decisions? Please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!