Owning or operating a business can be tough, but making tough hiring decisions is even more difficult. When you open a position at your office or place of business, you might get a flood of applicants who all look great on paper, but how do you choose which one will actually be the right fit for the job? Some people look solely at education, while others might value previous experience more. Still others rely heavily on references, a professional background check, and examples of the applicant’s work before deciding to invite them in for an interview. All of these are important elements to consider, but there’s so much more to hiring the right people than just breezing through resumes.
The Prep
First, you want to make sure you clearly define the available role in your job post. Don’t waste too much time trying to make the position sound attractive because to the right candidate, it will be! You want to create an accurate representation of what candidates can expect to do daily in the role and what the main objectives are. You can include common tasks, expectations, and requirements in your description—anything to help applicants get a comprehensive picture of the role.
Next, you want to configure your action plan. Decide how you want to go about hiring the right candidate and be sure you’re on the same page as the rest of the team who will be involved in the process. Call a meeting to see what the hiring manager is looking for in a candidate, which will the help the recruiter pull matching applications. You can also set a timeline for how many candidates to interview and when a decision needs to be made.
The Hire
When it’s time to start interviewing candidates, it can be incredibly helpful to have a checklist handy so you can stay on track and see if the applicant meets your needs. This can help you to get a good feel for their personality outside of their resumé to determine if they’ll be a good fit in your company. If their credentials match what you’re looking for, their background check and references pan out, and they check all the boxes on your list of needs, then you can feel confident extending a job offer.
Choosing the right employees can be stressful and time consuming, but these few tips can help to streamline the process and make hiring the right candidate easier.
