How to Hire New Employees

Hiring new employees is one of the most challenging tasks business owners face. You can take the fear and anxiety out of the process – and ensure you get the best prospect for the job – by developing an incremental, systematic approach and staying focused on the process. There are four simple steps that cover how to hire new employees.
Remember this: if you don’t change the system or process of hiring that you’ve been using thus far, then you’ll simply get more of what you’ve already got. Here’s a proven four step recruiting system that if followed carefully will ensure you hire the best candidate for the job every time.

Define What You Are Looking For

Define what you’re looking for carefully. Before you even begin looking or telling people you have a position you’re looking to fill – assess your present situation and define your ideal organization chart. Is your current staff in the best positions? And then, for this new / open position – have you fully defined the job and documented its responsibilities and requirements in a job description? What will the ideal candidate look like? Draw this picture before you even begin looking.

Attract a Large Pool of Applicants

Attract the largest pool of applicants your time and budget will allow. Be prepared ahead of the need arising with an up to date database of all your contacts. Research a wide variety of job posting resources that make sense for your business – develop a list and keep it updated. These would range from newspapers and industry newsletters, community organizations and churches, to temp agencies to web sites. Spread the word and share the job description with all your current employees, customers, vendors and other personal contacts.

Compare Applicanta

Compare each of the applicants who contact you two ways: compare each to your requirements, and then compare the qualified applicants to each other and rank them from most to least suitable. Implement multiple levels of screening and you’ll waste less time in lengthy interviews with under-qualified candidates. After you have developed a short list of applicants – invite them in for a structured test situation where they perform the essentials of the position in real time while you observe the results. Also assess your short list with one or more of the variety of assessment tools available to make sure you’re making an appropriate selection.

Sell Your Ideal Candidate

Sell your ideal candidate on the job. Remember the hiring process is a two way street. You’re interviewing them – and they’re assessing you. The stronger more desirable candidates will always have more opportunities. Do you have a strong vision and mission for your business that you can effectively communicate with enthusiasm and sincerity? You need to enroll and inspire in your vision to get a strong team member to join you. Another common mistake in hiring is ‘selling’ too soon. Be sure you haven’t skipped any of the previous steps so you don’t wind up selling the wrong candidate.
The hiring process is critical to the growth of a strong healthy business. Turning it into a systematic, incremental process can take the fear and anxiety out of the process. Having a system in place for making hiring a routine process will ensure you are not trapped with retaining poor performing staff because you fear having to hire replacements.
In order to determine which candidates are the right fit for your company, download and access your free white paper, 5 Guiding Principles For Recruiting a Star-Quality Team.