3 Guidelines for Hiring the Right Team Member
The process of hiring new team members cannot be handled lightly. Doing it poorly will cost you time and money. It’s expensive to find, train and test new team members. Not to mention, when you hire a new team member, you’re putting your own integrity and success in the balance. You’re bringing a new person into the business you have worked tirelessly to build, maintain, and make a living. You want to find team members you trust. What’s more is that you want to find someone who fits into your business’ culture and who will grow with the business. This clearly takes a hiring system to do it right. These 3 things to consider including in your system to be sure you’re getting what your business needs.
1. Don’t Oversell.
As a business owner, sometimes it’s easy to overstate the job descriptions for open positions. You have spent so much time and energy developing your business that likely, you, too, have done many of the same tasks you’re looking to hire for. You love your business and you want everyone to love it, too. But don’t feel the need to hyperbolize the day-to-day duties when you’re looking to fill an open position. Be honest about the responsibilities and have a clear position description of exactly what you’re looking for. Don’t get bogged down trying to show how many perks there are. Rather, clearly state the job’s responsibilities and tell the candidate exactly what he or she can expect. Of course there is nothing wrong with being up front about the perks, but that conversation can wait until after the prospective hire is interested in the job itself, and all the responsibilities that go with along with it.
2. Take Your Time.
When you’re looking for a new team member, you’re not doing yourself, your business, or your other team members any favors by rushing to fill an open position. Making an unsuccessful hire will result in a squandering of two things you can’t afford to waste—time and money. Do thorough background checks and prescreen each candidate before they even come in to interview. Try to have an understanding of the candidate’s skills and experience so when you do have a face-to-face interview, you can focus on the candidate’s attitude and personality.
3. Ask Meaningful Questions.
You’ve done your homework and now you’ve invited three candidates for an interview. You’ve already narrowed the candidate pool by eliminating candidates who don’t meet the required skills and experience, so now it’s time to discover what person (not candidate) will be a useful addition to your business. Of course there are standard interview questions, and they can prove to be effective. But take some time to develop tailored questions based on his or her resume. Since you’re the most familiar with what job they will be doing, use the interview to question them about how their skills and past experiences will help him or her handle certain situations that might arise in your business. You’ve taken measures to clearly define the job’s responsibilities and you’ve slowed down the hiring process to ensure only the most viable of candidates are considered. There’s nothing wrong with getting specific about what your business is all about and certain obstacles they might come across. Listen and learn, too. If you’re doing all the talking, though, you’re missing out on an amazing opportunity to lay groundwork for open and honest communication. Ask meaningful questions, but listen carefully to the answers.
