Make Sure You’re Hiring the Right People February 26, 2019Featured, My BusinessOff

Hiring new staff can be a daunting prospect. Hiring the right person can result in years of service and improve your overall work culture but hiring the wrong person can prove costly and might even reflect negatively on your business as a whole.

So, what should you be looking for and keeping in mind when hiring new employees to make sure you are making the most of your time and resources? Here, we hope to offer a few tips to make sure you’re hiring the right people for your team and your company’s vision.

Whether you own a fleet of black cabs that require new drivers, have just opened a new restaurant and require new waiting staff or are hiring c-suite level executives at your professional services firm, these are tips that should comfortably apply to any sector and any situation.

Define the role – Make sure the job is properly defined in the description you offer to your recruiters and on all online and offline job boards. If your potential hires don’t know what to expect from the job and from your company, they won’t be able to tell whether they are the right fit for the role or not.

Review and prescreen candidates – The review and prescreening processes can prove rather comprehensive. Make sure you have a list at hand of the skills, characteristics and qualities you are looking for and match your wish list to each application. The result should be your perfect candidate. Once you’ve singled out your favorite applications, prescreening is an important part of the process. Because a person might look wonderful on paper but could fall short on the phone or in person.

Don’t skimp on background checks – DBS checks (which are sometimes commonly referred to a CRD check, which used to be the standard criminal background check) should always be undertaken, particularly in situations where former criminals are likely to apply. You should also make an effort to verify all credentials with references wherever possible as many applicants will lie or exaggerate on their applications.

Ask the right questions – How will you know you‘ve found the right person for the job if you haven’t asked them the questions that are most relevant to that job? Take your time in compiling your interview questions. Steer clear of the generic “where do you see yourself in 5 years” or “sell me this pen” lines and instead opt for questions that genuinely reflect the company and the vacant role.

Get employees involved – Get your current employees involved in the hiring process. It always helps to have another set of eyes and ears with a different point of view (they might be able to spot something you can’t) and having someone who would be a peer give a new hire the all clear should help them integrate more organically into the team.

Finally don’t rush any decisions and keep the old adage “quality over quantity” in the back of your mind. Also, remember that there’s no exact science when it comes to hiring, but with the tips above on hand, you should at least have a slight advantage.

Share this Article

Recommended

See all
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE to Your PINK eNewsletter.

What’s Hot
See all

Little Pink Book