Hiring can be a challenging process and the decision you make can have a major impact on your operations. Hiring the wrong employee, whether it's a C-Suite executive, Nurse or CNA, can create a multitude of problems; not only is it expensive, but it is time-consuming and can be a major detriment to the work environment.
Hiring the right person, however, can boost morale, complement and build your culture, and help you accomplish goals. It also means that you don't waste time and energy in hiring only to have to hire again. Use these tips to learn how to hire the right person:
You can't hire someone until you know what you need them for. Are you replacing an existing role, hiring someone to take on a new gap in your organization, or even hiring extra hands on an existing team? Hiring the right employee should start with a job analysis, which looks at things like responsibilities, necessary skills, beneficial experience, etc., for the role and, in turn, helps you create a concrete job description.
Once you have determined the type of person you want to hire and have a job description prepared, you can plan your recruitment strategy. Your strategy can include determining where you'll start looking for candidates, what questions you'll ask in interviews, and who is going to be involved in the hiring process (and how).
But wait, aren't you the one giving the interview? Yep. A job interview is a powerful tool for both your organization and the candidate when it comes to assessment.
You ask the candidate the usual line up of questions: "Where do you want to be in five years? What are your strengths and weaknesses?". Then, you add a little polite conversation and find something you both have in common that you can "bond" over. They seem like a good enough candidate, so you hire them. What happens when, in a month or two, that person isn't meeting expectations? Before you blame them, look back at how valid the responses to your by-the-book interview questions were – did they really give you an indication of if this person was the right fit?
Evaluate what questions you're asking candidates and how they actually help gauge that person's abilities and personality. Interview questions that help you "get to know" that person and get an idea on how they would actually fit in your organization (and culture) are crucial.
It’s important to have a clear discussion on how your organization sees the role that you’re hiring for growing, making it just as important for you to understand the career goals of your candidates. Getting a sense of this will help determine if there's alignment between the candidate and the company's goals.
While you don't want to hire an employee who frequently switches jobs without much rhyme or reason, you may not be hiring someone that you expect to see at the company for the next 25 years. Coming to an understanding of the mutual goals of both parties helps to outline expectations and lifespan of the potential relationship you may have.
So, you went through the hiring process, checked all the boxes, and made an offer to who you thought was the right person. But now, you're x-amount of months (maybe only weeks) in and they're not meeting expectations. What do you do?
First, reflect on why you hired them – were you tired of interviewing or needed a position filled fast, so you just took the first person that seemed decent? Did you ask effective interview questions? Did you actually check and contact their references? Before immediately blaming your new employee for not meeting expectations, evaluate if those expectations were fair or made clear in the first place.
Communicating with your employees, especially new ones, can make all the difference. Many performance issues can be resolved or improved by just letting the person know that they're doing something wrong and giving them constructive and actionable feedback. If they don’t know they're doing something wrong, they can’t make an effort to do better.
Not all jobs are for everyone. It may be time to face the reality that the employee just isn’t a good fit for your business. Unfortunately, despite any effort and good intentions, not all new employees are "the one".
To prevent this from happening in the future, take a hard look at your current processes and expectations to see if there are internal gaps. Also consider, maybe you aren't experienced enough to make the right hire or you need an outside opinion. If that's the case, you could consider enlisting the help of an outside recruiting firm to help you learn how to hire the right person.
Recruiters are highly experienced in hiring successful employees. They typically have a large network of candidates they trust and their own tricks to help evaluate potential hires. Working with a recruiter gives you a better chance at a successful placement and can help make what is normally a stressful process, easier.