The process of hiring a new employee doesn’t have to be a difficult one, if you follow these suggestions that we give our clients. Whether you are a start-up hiring your first employee, or looking to hire a senior level manager for your growing organization, the process and structure outlined in this article will help make the process easier and increase your chances of finding great candidates for the job!
Where Do I Start?
- Define Your Needs
It is vital that you take the time to define what your organization needs. Some pre-planning will make your recruitment efforts and results more effective. A word of caution – do not lump together an assortment of job roles into one position i.e.) receptionist, bookkeeper and office manager. Being able to find a person with such a diverse set of skills and strength preferences is highly unlikely. Remember, the goal of recruitment is to find the right person for a job and have them enjoy and experience success. Job satisfaction heightens employee retention levels.
- Create a Job Description
You will need to fine-tune the actual requirements of the position in order to be able to write an effective job description. To get the process of a job description rolling you will need to jot down some of the activities and responsibilities that will fall under this role. Here are a few questions to help get the ball rolling:
- What do we need done?
- What skills are required for this position?
- Are special technical certification or other qualifications needed? If so, what?
- Does the role demand any physical requirements?
Where Do I Post My Job Opening?
The Internet offers a plethora of options of where to place your new job posting. The job description you created may provide you some direction as to where quality candidates might see it as they browse online for opportunities. Social media channels are an effective medium to get the word out. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter are wonderful ways to spread the word. If you have a website or Google My Business listing, be sure to post the job there too! You can also try some paid options like Indeed or other job boards. Or if you would rather outsource the process, recruitment specialists like ThryvX Consulting, can assist you through the entire recruitment and onboarding process.
I’ve Posted the Job – Now What?
Great! Your job posting is out there circulating, now it’s time to get busy preparing for the next phase of the process: candidate screening and interviewing. Get a copy of the job description you made and read it over again. Highlight all the MUST HAVE elements and use those to create your keyword list. This list of keywords is what you will use as a filter during your first screening of applicant résumés. Don’t read every word of these résumés – simply skim read them and select ONLY those that contain your MUST HAVE keywords/elements. The resulting pile of résumés is your potential candidates list. Re-read your job description to refresh your perspective on the full range of skills, training and ability for the job and pull out the potential candidates which demonstrate the best fit to these requirements. This shorter pile of résumés is your pre-screen list. Pre-screening potential candidates on the phone will save you many wasted hours interviewing candidates, as it eliminates most of the unsuitable ones BEFORE the in-person interviews begin. Simply telephone each candidate and have a short conversation to review job requirements to confirm that each candidate is aware and agreeable to specific things like:
- Location of the position
- Office or job hours
- Pay rate or salaries
- Any other necessary requirements
The Job Interview
By this point you have honed the list to only the most suitable candidates. To prepare for the interviews ask yourself: ‘What do I want to know from each applicant?’ Write a list of items that you want to know more about from each applicant, such as: experience, background, attitudes, strengths and any behaviours that will assist you in determining their suitability for the position. Ask open-ended questions to draw out this information, like:
- Tell me about a time when you…
- Tell me how you have previously handled a situation like…
Write out a bullet list of these potential questions. Don’t view this as a script, use it if you need a suggestion or two while interviewing. Interviews should flow like a conversation and when you encounter something about which you would like to know a bit more information, it’s okay to use more probing questions/statements such as, “Let’s talk more about this… .”
The Hire
Once you have identified the successful candidate you should be ready to quickly make the candidate a job offer. It’s good practice to have ready a Letter of Offer so you don’t lose that person to another recruiter. It is perfectly acceptable to make this offer, stating that it is contingent on things like: completion of a police check or three professional reference checks, etc. This is also a good time to clearly state details like:
- the pay or salary for the position
- the start date
- vacation time
- benefits offered
This clarity ensures that the candidate is aware of all the details related to the position and accepts them if they accept your offer. The final offer should be in the hands of the person two weeks prior to the person’s start date, so the candidate has enough time to review the employee contract / employment agreement and the employee handbook prior to their start date and accept the position as a fully informed employee.
Onboarding New Employees
The final phase of hiring is the onboarding process. It’s a good idea to also plan out how the new person will be oriented, trained and integrated into the organization upon arrival. Statistics cite that there is a 34 % turnover rate within 3 months of a new hire. Effective onboarding can guard against high turnover rates of new hires. It is estimated that the process of a new hire costs the organization 30% of the annual salary for that job, so the fewer times you need to hire new employees the better!
We offer special programs like; Zero to 90 With Success, that help organizations to effectively onboard new hires. If you would like more information on this or our other services please feel free to contact us.
