I have hired a number of employees and even fired a few. Both decisions are difficult to make, especially after being burned by a bad employee. Bad employees affect everyone from you, the employees they work with, and the customers they interact with. You can lose business because of terrible customer service or lose a valued employee if you don’t fire a poor employee.
When I worked in retail, I hired a young woman for a cashier position. She had big 80s hair (even though it was way past the 80s) and wore lots of makeup. She had a great personality though. During her interview, I look the time to get to know her and see past the 4″ high hair style. She was a great employee and customers loved how helpful she was. She was great with everyone she worked with, customers and employees alike. Unfortunately, another company saw how great she was and enticed her away with a better position.
It is not easy to find and keep an employee that interacts well with customers and fits in well with other employees. Or, finding someone who can keep your business running smoothly so you can have the occasional day off, or a vacation. Finding good employees often takes time and many interviews. Whether hiring one employee or looking for an entire team, you want to find people dedicated to you and to your business success.
Your employees are the heart of your business. They keep the business running everyday so you can focus on new clients and unique ideas. Though large companies can handle an occasional wrong hire, smaller companies may not be able to absorb the time and money to have many turnovers. The wrong hire can also lose you business and ruin your reputation. A bad reputation your business may not be able to rebound from.
Taking the time to hire the right person is not something that is rushed. Hiring someone just to fill a position, or not being prepared for the interview process, can have consequences that linger long after the employee is gone.
1. What skills and knowledge to you want your employees to have?
Take the time to develop a detailed job description before you begin the process of interviewing potential employees. Know what skills and knowledge the candidate needs for success. Be prepared with questions to determine if the candidate is a good fit for your company and with other employees. Consider responsibility, resourcefulness, reliability, resilience, productivity, and their openness to change. Look for an employee that has the desire to grow with your company and is not just looking for a filler job on their way up the ladder.
2. Define your organization’s values, vision statement, and culture.
Be aware of your company’s mission statement, values, and vision. Know your objectives and purpose to explain the company’s direction and goals to the candidates. Know what your business will see as specific challenges, then determine questions to ask the candidates about their abilities to meet these challenges.
3. Advertising
Think carefully about how you will recruit job applicants. What is the best strategy; newspapers, online or paper, online job sites, college posting boards, LinkedIn, Facebook, networking, word-of-mouth, or a combination? What type of person are you are looking to hire? Do your research and find out where these candidates hang out so you know how you can best reach them.
4. Savvy interviewing skills
Have questions ready to ask the candidate based on the job description and your company’s values, mission, and culture. Ask thoughtful questions and listen carefully to responses. Review the candidate’s resume and ask for examples that will meet your company’s goals. Does the candidate have good professional characteristics and demonstrate transferable skills that will benefit your business? Core competencies such as working independently, problem solving, listening skills, communications skills, analytical and critical thinking, and conflict resolution are all skills that could be more important than actually knowing how to do the job. Ask questions that allow the candidate to show their knowledge of these skills.
How do you go about hiring new employees? Do you have detailed lists of questions or do you go with your gut instinct?
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