How to Hire the Right Employees For Your Small Business

Hiring the right employees for your business is one of the most important tasks in the human resource (HR) department. Unfortunately, many small businesses do not have a dedicated HR team, so this essential task tends to fall on the shoulders of the business owner.

Trying to hire the right people for your small business is harder than it looks. So, to help you hire the right team members, we've outlined 6 essential steps that you should consider during the hiring process.

Step #1: The Job Description

Writing a job description (JD) is the foundation of the hiring process - as it can make or break it. The JD is the first thing that candidates see, and with more than 3 billion jobs being posted online every day, it's important to make yours stand out. Therefore, your JD will need to include two sections. In the first section, you should focus on what you want from potential hires, such as education, experience, skills, knowledge, competencies, personality, values, etc. you want the person to have. In the second section, you should focus on what makes your company a great place to work. Therefore, make sure to include background about your company, your company values, benefits employees get and what your company culture is like.

Step #2: Promote Your Job Opening

Have a powerful job description is only half the battle. Once the description is ready, you will need to find a way to promote it during the recruitment process. We suggest using the following options below:

    1. Online Job Boards: Online job boards are an easy and cost-effective way to reach a new pool of candidates that you wouldn't have been able to access previously. If it is in your budget and available, you can pay to promote your job posting - so it is the first thing potential candidates see.

    2. Social Media: Social Media sites such as LinkedIn have become a powerful tool to recruit potential candidates. Not only can you post your job, but you can also promote it to your network. You can also use LinkedIn to recruit potential candidates that you feel would be right for the role by sending them a message.

    3. Recruiters: If it's in your budget, consider hiring a recruitment agency who will be able to look and screen candidates before they send them to you. While this can be a more costly option, it can help save you time and effort from having to do the task yourself. During your initial meeting with the recruiter, you will need to let the recruiter know about the day-to-day requirements of the role, what they will be expected to achieve, and how their success will be measured. You should also let the recruiter know if there is room for growth in the role, and answer questions about team dynamics and company culture. This will help the recruiter communicate with potential candidates everything they need to know to see if it is a good fit for both parties.

    4. Employee Referral Program: When you are looking for potential candidates - you will hopefully receive a lot of job applications. It can be time consuming to review, screen and contact all the appropriate candidates. Having a recommendation from employees or other people you trust can help you narrow down the list. To entice employees to do so, you can provide them with a bonus if their referral is hired.

Step #3: Review Resumes

After you have promoted your job opening, you will hopefully have a lot of resumes to review, which can be a very time-consuming process. So, to begin, we suggest that you quickly scan each resume for an overall impression. During this initial scan, look for resumes that meet your wanted qualifications and stand out from the other resumes. Qualifications may include education, work experience, and more. If candidates do not meet specific requirements, make sure to mark them as a no.

Tip #4: Interview Process

Once you have narrowed down your search, it is time for the interview process. During this time, both you and the candidate will be evaluating one another. One thing that 46% of candidates look for is how authentic and genuine the company is during the interview process. Therefore, it is important for you to answer any questions that a candidate may have as honestly and genuinely as possible.

Before having an in-person interview, we suggest you begin the process with either a phone interview or a video interview. During either of these initial screenings, you can get a sense if the candidate matches their resume in terms of personality, skills, and qualifications. You should also use this time to see if the candidate has a passion to work for your small business.

Once the initial screening is complete and you have narrowed down your search even further, you should invite candidates for an in-person interview. If another staff member at your company will be working with this potential hire, invite them to participate in the interview to get a second opinion. Make sure to ask different questions from your initial screening, some you may want to consider include situational and behavioural questions.

Step #5: Making the Offer

Once the interview process is complete and you have decided on a candidate for the role, you will need to send them an offer. We suggest calling the potential hire to verbally offer the position, as doing so ensures they will be looking out for your offer in an email and it gives them the opportunity to ask any questions they may have. In the written offer that is sent by email, make sure that the candidate is aware that the offer is only valid for a certain number of days to create a sense of urgency to accept the offer. Also, make sure to include all the necessary information and documents. The goal of this email should be to provide candidates with the relevant information they need to make an informed choice between accepting or declining your job offer.

The Last Step

Once you have sent out the job offer, you will have entered the negotiation stage. Hopefully, you and the candidate will be able to come to an agreement. If this doesn't happen and the person decides to reject your offer, try to keep your spirits high. Maybe there is another candidate you interviewed that you can offer the position to. If not, we suggest restarting the hiring process. As, hiring the wrong candidate can cost a company 6, 15, or 72 times the position's base salary.

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