If you run your own business, one of the key things you need to get right is hiring. Your employees are likely to be your most expensive asset, and they can also be your best asset if you choose right, but so many businesses get it wrong and hire the wrong person for the job.
If you don’t want to be one of them, and you want to ensure that you always hire the right person for your business, here are a few things you should do:
Write a detailed description
If you want to hire the right person for the right job, then ensure you start by writing the right job description for the position. Think carefully about what the hiree’s duties will be and what kind of personality they will need to do the job and fit in with the culture, and put it all in the descriptions. This will ensure you have more of the right people applying from the off.
Get some insights training
Insights training is really valuable for any members of the team who will be involved in hiring candidates because it can help you to spot and analyse the behaviour of candidates and whether they are likely to be a good fit with your business or not. The training is also useful for improving customer relations and management relationships with employees, so it is a very valuable course to take all-round.
Give a test
It’s useful to create a core competencies test and have all candidates take it before you consider hiring them. Some candidates look good on paper, but when it comes to putting their qualifications into practice, they are not so great. A good core competencies test will help to weed these people out early on.
Don’t make it all about the past
It can be tempting to focus on the past history of your candidates but unless your checks turn up something really awful about them, it is much better to focus on the present and what they are able to do now. So, instead of asking them lots of questions about their CV and their previous roles, ask them about what they would do in various situations they might have to deal with in your company. This will usually give you a better idea of how well they are likely to fit in.
Have them meet the team
Having your candidates join your existing team for a working lunch or similar is a good idea as it will help you to assess whether they are likely to fit in with the company culture or not. It does not matter how qualified someone is, if they cannot fit in and work with others, they will end up being a bad hire for you, so letting them get to know the team and vice versa, and watching them carefully while you do, is a must.
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to change your hiring practices so that you always choose the optimum person for each position, so what are you waiting for?
