Employing the best people for your business
Would you withdraw a big wad of cash from your company account right now and burn it all in one afternoon? You wouldn’t, but that’s what you risk doing if you don’t hire the absolute best employees when it’s time to recruit.
Below, we’ve got some fantastic tips on how to avoid unleashing your inner employment arsonist. Because taking the wrong person on board (whether they’re utterly atrocious or just OK), not only leads to more costs hiring someone else, but also means you lose out on someone better to help your company grow.
Be the type of place that attracts good applicants
Your new hire can only be as good as the people who are interested in joining your company. If you can’t offer a great work environment or, worse, have a bad reputation in the industry, the type of people you’re looking for won’t be interested in coming in for an interview.
Being known for a warm and friendly workplace that offers benefits such as gym facilities or a generous holiday allowance is something you can boast about in your job listing. That can appeal to candidates who have the pick of the bunch, as hiring people is equally about what you can offer, as it is about what they can offer you.
Make the most of LinkedIn
For the uninitiated, LinkedIn is essentially a social network based around work. Personal profiles are like digital CVs and your company can have its own presence, too. Recruiters basically live on here, and for good reason: it’s easy to find people with the skills and job opening requires.
It might be there’s someone who’s great for the role you need filling, they just don’t know it yet. If you know what you really want in a person, you can hunt down people with those qualities using LinkedIn.
Read between the lines of a CV
Selecting people to interview from that pile of CVs can be much easier if you know how to understand what people are really saying.
Been to all the right schools and universities? A surprisingly accomplished job history in just a few years? It could mean they’ve got by on their connections, or perhaps they are so fiercely ambitious they’re looking to use your vacancy as a six month stepping stone. That said, it could also mean they’re the best thing since sliced bread. An interview will help you decide.
Meanwhile, a run-of-the-mill set of interests, such as walking the dog, could indicate the candidate is the sensible person you’re looking for, or alternatively, they’re doing an uninspiring job of hiding their penchant for pub crawls and work-disrupting hangovers.
Use the interview wisely
To determine the right candidate, you need to have a set of carefully thought out questions you ask each individual. A good interviewer will go off-piste by asking questions tailored specifically to the CV in-front of them without straying far enough to miss out a key question that’s vital to the role.
As this could be your only chance to interact with the person face to face, gauge how compatible their personality is with your work environment and staff. If they can do the job but people can’t stand them, you’ll be wishing you paid closer attention here.
It’s also important to take note of how a person reacts to a question, as this can tell you a great deal, not only about the truth of their claims in their CV, but how they deal with pressure and their ability to problem solve.
Yes, you should check references
Before you’re ready to offer a job to a candidate, calling to check references is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Particularly if the person you hire turns out to be useless, you’ll regret not getting feedback from the applicant’s references.
Pay particular attention to phrasing. Anything that isn’t a direct endorsement and a clear answer to your question might suggest they’re trying to be tactful with their answer; which should ring alarm bells.
Remember to follow up references, get a gauge of personality and dig to find what a CV really means and your next recruit could be the employee of your dreams.
