-Hire Right for Your Business  ....And keep it that way. Hiring the right person is ensuring the future success of your business. If your goals are to grow your business then hiring and training a competent team is crucial for the future. The most important thing when hiring is to know who you are looking for before you even start advertising; What qualities, skills, experience, attitude, and values do you want this person to have? Make sure you write down what is most important to you in a candidate and be sure that it is in alignment with your goals, values, vision and mission of the company. Keep in mind that there is a difference between hiring someone who is the right fit compared to someone who is similar to you. It's important to hire someone who holds similar values, goals and work ethic to you (your company) however you still want to ensure this person has different qualities, talents and skills to bring to your company.If organization is not one of your strengths then looking for a candidate who has strong organizational skills will be a great asset for your company. Let's take a look at some of the steps to follow when planning to hire and interview (These are all steps that your Business Coach can help you with): - Know "who" you want to hire before you advertise for the position -Write down the skills, values, strengths and qualities this person will have and ensure these fit in with your company. It's as though you will create the perfect candidate in your mind and then put it to paper so that you can use it to conduct a successful interview.
- Based on the type of candidate you are looking for you can create a detailed job posting/advertisement so that you attract the right type of candidate.Detail is everything in this step so that you do not have applicants who are completely unfit for the position.
- Determine the best places to advertise for this position (newspaper, on-line, job bank, etc. and consider informing your family, friends and past colleagues of the type of person you are looking for (I do not recommend hiring a friend or family member - only ask them for referrals).
- Create a separate email account specifically for this job posting - you can add another account to your current domain (hiring@yourcompany.ca) or you could create a fr*ee temporary account such as (hiringassistant@hotmail.com). The reason for a separate account is to save yourself from having an inbox overload in your current email that you use for business. I do recommend having a permanent address with your domain so that you can keep resumes on file as reference for future hires - this may save you in the future from having to advertise a position.
- Do your advertising with a closing date for two weeks from the date your job is advertised.
- Allow resumes to come in - I do not recommend looking at the resumes as they show up in your inbox. I suggest setting aside 2-3 hours per week to review the resumes and print those in which you are interested and that match the criteria of your ideal candidate. After the closing date of the job advertisement, set aside half a day to review the resumes again and be very selective - match the applicants, as best you can, to the list of your requirements of an ideal candidate.
- Set aside two or three half days for interviews and start calling your applicants that you have selected for an interview. Set up as much time as you need per applicant (Apprx. 1hr)
- Take notes during each interview (or have someone sit in with you to take notes). Once you have completed all interviews, review your notes and resumes of each candidate and make your decision carefully. Your Business Coach can assist you with this process
- Once you have made your selection, call the selected candidate first to offer them the position and once they have accepted, call the other candidates to let them know they were not selected.
- The next steps are very important - Orientation and Training. This is crucial to the success of your hire and the success of your business. If you have never had an employee before, you now need to create a job description for your position as well as your hire; you need to have guidelines and policy for your new hire to follow. If you do not have job descriptions or policies/guidelines/procedures it will be quite challenging to train and hold your new hire accountable for their actions and performance. All achievements need to be measured and reviewed regularly and if there is no written formats to follow, you will not be able to measure the success or improvements of your new hire. Job descriptions and procedures are also useful when rewarding employees or recognizing their achievements - and recognition is crucial to the commitment and performance of your employee(s). This takes us into a whole new topic and since I would like to keep you from experiencing 'information overload' I will stop here: Please email me (laura@lifedesigncoaching.ca) if you would like more information or stay tuned for the next newsletter.
I wish you the best of luck with your recruitment, interview and selection process! |
