Whether you’re a seasoned small business owner or are just starting out, the importance of having the right people work for your organization is critical to your business’ overall success. As a small business owner, the hiring may often fall on your to-do list and can take up a lot of valuable time. So here are some expert tips to help simplify the hiring process to ensure you bring the right people on-board:

Assess your needs

• Consider your organization: Before the job description is posted and interviewing is underway, it's important to think about your business as a whole. Is there time to hire and train a new employee, and space to do it in? What is the company's vision and mission, and what type of employees best fit in? Consider keeping these things in mind to see how candidates rate both on paper and during interviews. 

• Review the job description: It's important to make sure the job description is relevant. Think about the current and future needs of your organization, as it will help ensure the role itself will fulfil the company's needs, while the expectations of the successful candidate will also be well-managed.

Determine who's the best fit

• Seek internally and externally: It can be worthwhile to reach out to your existing team to see if there is any interest in filling the role. After all, these are the people that are most familiar with your organization’s vision. Or, if you’ve been hanging onto a bank of resumes from external folks who have shown an interest in your company, consider searching through those.
• Review thoughtfully: Once you've received applications from interested job seekers, carefully read through them, looking for traits and qualities that align with your organization's mission, as well as things like communication skills, technical competency, work ethic, a willingness to improve to their skill set, and loyalty.

Make contact

• Manage expectations: Contact a chosen short list of applicants by phone to make sure that they're still interested in the job, and to get an overall idea of their compensation expectations. This will also give you a better understanding of their ability to communicate, their level of enthusiasm, and to gauge if their resume matches with what you expected. Perhaps your organization also requires things like bonding and credit checks, so it's important to understand if they are comfortable with this too, should they be chosen as the successful candidate. 

• Ask insightful questions: Once it's time to interview, consider interviewing in pairs to ensure there are no biased opinions in the decision-making process. Ask an employee who will work closely with the successful candidate to join you in the discussion. During the interview, find out about things like the applicant's greatest achievement, what qualities their ideal boss might have, what interests them most about your company, and why they're looking for a career change. For more of today's best interview questions, click here.

Remember not to make a rash decision. Only go forward with offering a job if you feel that the candidate not only fits that job description well, but also that they will fit well within the culture of your organization. Furthermore, consider whether they're wanting a job or a career out of working with your company. In choosing someone who wants to be there and believes in your organization, you'll be hiring a loyal employee and their positive attitude will shine contagiously throughout the business. By following these steps, and putting time and thought into finding the right people, you will improve your chances of not only hiring the best employees for the role, but also avoid making costly mistakes. For more tips on hiring the right people for your business, visit this helpful link.

Revised Jul. 4, 2021