Hiring is one of the most important things an entrepreneur will do for their growing company.
Honestly, hiring can be daunting task. There are very real costs associated with recruiting and hiring. You're paying someone (in-house or a recruiter, or perhaps even yourself) to search for candidates, and the longer the search, the higher the cost per hire. According to SHRM, the average cost-per-hire is $4,700 in hard costs and soft costs can be 3 to 4 times the position’s salary. Soft costs include the time other employees invest in supporting the hiring process – all of this takes time away from “normal” activities.
Beyond cost per hire, for a small business, each new hire has a big impact on the day to day working environment. For sure, it influences the company's culture far more than a new hire at a company with say 200 or more employees. So you need to ensure that each of your new hires is an engaged and committed team player.
Here are steps you can take to stack the odds in your favor:
Step 1: Get Clear on Expectations
Align Job Description & Responsibilities with Expectations for the Role. This is a critical step and often doesn’t get enough attention. You want to be clear on the position what work is involved and how you want the job done. Most job descriptions out there are very generic. It seems like everybody needs to be detail oriented, organized, yet flexible, innovative, creative, performing well under stress, and so on. The problem with generic job descriptions is that send mixed messages and ups the odds that you’ll miss core elements of the position.
After getting clear on the role, I recommend that the hiring manager completes a Kolbe assessment on the role. It will give you insights and help you articulate your expectations for the role beyond the tasks and responsibilities. And it gives you real data and a base line for comparing your top candidates to the expectations for the role.
Step 2: Advertise the Position and Screen Candidates
You want to attract the right people! Make sure the clarity and expectations for the role are carried through the whole hiring process. Be specific and detailed in your job posting to attract the right candidates. You are looking for a skills, values and problem solving approach "match". If you are overly general or throw in every skill and attribute you send mix messages. Plus, remember candidates are screening you, as much as you are screening them.
Step 3: Identify Your Top Candidates
Narrow down the candidate list through interviews. Use a behavorial interviewing approach. You want to know what they have done (not what they think they will do. Include your team and agree on a standard set of interview questions and assign who will ask what question. Be fluid enough to ask for clarification and other follow up questions. Your goal is to narrow down to 1 or 2, maybe 3, if you have really strong group of candidates.
Step 4: Assessment of top candidates
Use Kolbe assessment reports for more data on how each candidate "best fits" with the role and with your company. One of the most important processes I use Kolbe with is in hiring. Kolbe is EEOC endorsed to be used in the hiring process and is proven to be unbiased and non-discriminatory.
I recommend you assess the top 2-3 candidates. For the most successful hires, look for synergy between the role and a candidate with 3 elements: skills, values and how they “do” a.k.a. problem solve. Many times people have the necessary skills and experience to do the job, have the right personality and values, but don’t approach problem solving and doing the way expected for a job or position. Note: While most people can power through and “do it”, it’s especially hard to sustain this on a longer term basis. When you compromise on this aspect for a core element of the job, you end up with extra strain and burnout.
Step 5: On-boarding for Success
After you’ve found and hired a new person, you are not done! Develop an on-boarding plan to set everyone up for success. When you invest the time to do a thoughtful and thorough employee onboarding process (think 6 months, not 1 or 2 weeks), you can vastly improve retention plus you accelerate the time to proficiency and confidence in their new role.
New employees with good onboarding experiences are 18X more committed to their employer! (Source: Bamboo HR).
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