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Follow these 3 tips to hire your next winner!
Hiring a new person can feel like walking into a casino with a pocket full of cash. Sometimes you hit the jackpot and other times you walk away with less than you came in with!
But hiring does not have to be a blind roll of the dice! By following a few screening steps, you can REDUCE THE RISK involved in hiring and actually learn to identify a great company fit, both quickly and confidently.
So how do you screen candidates with a high level of confidence?
Start with following these three simple steps:
Know exactly what position you need next. It was Simon Sinek, who said, "You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills." That is great for a big company to say, but when you are a small and nimble business, you ALSO need a person with the critical skillset. When you are a small business, you need a clear picture of the missing position that will not only make your business more money, but will free you up to be creative, explore new ideas, and make a real impact moving forward. I have known too many solo-entrepreneurs who say they need help, but when I really try to nail them down on what help they need, they can't tell me much more than the fact that they need more time or more organization. In order to make the right hire, you need to know exactly what position will maximize your business.
Ask your top candidate to demonstrate their competencyIt does not matter if it's an entry level job or a high level position; having the candidates show you their work is one of the MOST CRITICAL PARTS of finding a great hire. When you try out for a basketball team you have to show the coach that you know how to shoot the ball and dribble or you won't make the team. Why wouldn't we expect our applicants to do the same thing by showing us their skills in action?Too often in job interviews we just take the candidate's word for it that they are proficient in a program or that they know how to close a sales call. Assigning a small tasks for your applicants to complete will not only help them demonstrate their abilities, it will show you who really stands out in the process! I once had final candidates research and suggest a new customer rewards program for our company as a part of my screening process. The candidate I ended up hiring was the only one to not only give me a solution, but also who took the time on her own to find out which program we currently used and lay out the benefits to selecting her new suggestion over our old system! She instantly showed me that research and intuitiveness were strengths she possessed and that aligned with my overall needs for the position. Asking candidates to demonstrate their abilities is a surefire way to find a great hire.
Hire people who fit in with your company culture."But I'm a one or two person team," you may say. "I haven't even discovered my company culture yet?" You may not have your mission statement on the wall with core values listed out, but you do know how you would describe your work flow to outsiders. Are you laid back and less structured in your week? Do you love a checklist and need interaction with people to feel energized? Do you have a desire for employees to be in touch with you daily to report in on their tasks? Do you get distracted by talkers and need a quiet place to focus while working? All of these things matter when hiring a new employee. To find these right culture fits, you need to ask open ended questions that will encourage them to share their own work preferences and see if they align with the ones you know to be true for you. I was once hiring for a studio position and we had a very peaceful and relaxed team of people. I knew it was important to find someone who would fit in with that energy and not detract by being too chatty or boisterous. I asked the question, "How would your coworkers describe your energy at work?" Instantly I was offered a glimpse into the daily attributes of the candidates who eagerly expressed that their coworkers loved them, but always told them to shut up because they were too loud (true story!) It offered me a lot of insight as they described themselves in the third person, through the eyes of someone else and helped me know that this particular candidate, although perfect for some work environments, would be a mismatch for our company. Hiring the wrong culture fit will not only make for an unhappy new employee, it will potentially wreck the attitude of your current team and upset the environment.
These tips won't solve every part of hiring, but it will help you sidestep some significant issues that plague most small businesses with little experience in hiring. By following these three tips, I believe you can hit the hiring jackpot and build the momentum you need to grow and thrive in the upcoming months and years!
Happy hiring!
P.S. If you need help screening all those applicants, grab my applicant screening form. This form includes step-by-step instructions on crafting your own unique candidate screening process. It offers a simple, editable template that you can change to fit your needs.
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