The 7 Necessary Steps about Hiring

After ten years of being an Owner/Manager in a Recruiting firm, I am still amazed how many employers are unprepared and uninformed when it comes to hiring people for their open positions.  Hiring the right people for your company is the most important business decision you can make.  It can either help you grow exponentially, stunt your growth or even worse—close your doors!  The costs of delaying the decision to hire employees or making a bad hire impact a business so significantly, it behooves an employer to get educated and be prepared.   In this article, I will present the Seven Necessary Steps to making a right hire.

Know your job.  Create a job description with all of the essential functions and duties of the position.  What will the employee be responsible for in the position?  List all the job duties with a necessary clause in the end “and any other duties as directed by your Manager” to avoid the proverbial employee excuse “Well it’s not in my job description”.  

Make sure the employee knows what is expected of them before they start.

Know your culture.  Understand your company culture and the personalities of the department for which you are hiring.  If your company is a very business casual environment with regard to dress, appearance and the occasional “slip” in professional office discussion, do not hire someone from a very corporate environment where “suits, ties and hose” are mandatory and everyone must say “the right things”.  Hire someone who is used to working in an environment similar to yours.  In addition, hire someone who will enhance the personalities of that department.  For example, if you are hiring an Executive Assistant for a CEO/Owner who is very busy, unorganized, demanding and a type A personality, you need to hire someone who is easy going and can “roll with the punches”, yet is very meticulous and used to having the answers “on demand”.  Look at similar positions and personalities for whom she/he has worked.

Prepare Interview Questions.  Yes, you need to prepare interview questions.

Make a list of job related and behavioral questions.  Ask each candidate the same questions to compare how they answered to help you make a calculated decision.

If you are constantly hiring high volume positions i.e. Sales or Sales Managers, you should have a standard interview guide with these questions that all Managers consistently ask and are required to document their answers.  It should include your Manager’s opinion to move forward to hire or not, with reasons supporting their decision.

Have a Compelling Reason.  You need to find some compelling reasons why an employee would want to work for your company instead of your competitors.  I have a few clients who insist on the old way of hiring—“an employee needs to tell me why I should hire them and fight for the position to get it and feel lucky to work here”.   Well, if they have some compelling reasons, they will.  Here’s a reality check: in today’s candidate driven market, employees have options, well, at least the ones you want to hire.  If your Manager’s can’t think of some compelling reasons to work for your organization, there’s a problem. 

Check References/Background Checks. This is so important. Make the time to call references and perform background checks with the candidate’s approval (signature).  So many employers fail to do so and pay a high price for hiring the wrong person after the fact.  They found what they thought was “the right candidate” and then move on to the next task of their busy week.  In my company, every Recruiter must verify references on every candidate—period!  In this way, you can confirm if an employee has a specific skill set that they’ve claimed, is dependable, has a good work ethic, and has the necessary experience, before they ever start.

Go With Your Gut and Make a Decision. Your gut feeling is most important.  I have had clients who said “Well, he/she didn’t have exactly the right skills, but he/she told me his life story and I feel bad.  If I could provide X, I could fit him/her somewhere in my organization.  I tell them, point blank “don’t hire the candidate!”  Never create the job around the employee. It will never work.  I only hire people as Recruiters for my business who have great instinct.  We have structures, procedures, policies and the best behavioral and software testing on the market, but if they don’t have a strong “gut instinct” about people, I won’t hire them.  We don’t want to save the world; we want to hire the right people for the right job—period!

Training and Preparation for Your New Hire(s).  Okay, so now you have made the decision with all your wisdom, preparation, checks, balances and expenses to hire a person and you’re feeling pretty good about your decision.  What have you prepared for your new employee for their first day (weeks)?  Do you have a friendly, inviting orientation to welcome him/her on board to the best company of their career, the company on which you sold them?  Do you have three days, three weeks (or more) of planned, organized training?  If you do not have a prepared agenda to welcome your new employee and a well organized orientation and training program, you have set this new hire up for discouragement and failure.  What do you think your employee will think and say-after they quit- to 10 of their friends/family about your company?  I will tell you because I have heard it time and time again.  “These people are unorganized and didn’t give me the support I needed to succeed”.  It is imperative to make a great first and ongoing impression to your new hires when they start to help them to succeed so that they can help you and your business be successful!

You will have the best employees if you understand and know the job(s) you are hiring for, know your culture, and prepare your interview questions for comparison.  You must be able to give compelling reasons why an employee would want to work for you instead of your competitor next door.  Take the time to check references to verify their background and experience to ensure what they have told you are accurate.  Don’t forget to go with what your gut is telling you when making your decision to hire.  And finally, have a prepared orientation to welcome them to their new home and ongoing career.  You must have a planned and scheduled training program so that your employees will understand and know what is expected of them and feel they have the support and knowledge to accomplish the task(s) at hand.  They will also feel proud and grateful to have been chosen for the position.  In this way, you will attract and obtain the best employees out there who will want to come and work for you and most importantly, stay with you.

Tanja Hayward is an Owner of Partnership Employment, Inc., a National Recruiting Firm based out of New York, that specializes in placing professional people in positions that match the exact needs of their clients.  She is recognized as a Top Expert in Staffing and can be reached at thayward@partnershipemployment.com or by phone at 508-770-1777.