Are you hiring? Let’s discuss how to recruit the best candidates for your open position. We’ll cover what to look for in a potential employee, and how to ensure that you’re picking candidates that are a fit for not just the position, but the culture and values of your organization.
By implementing the following tips, you are guaranteed to attract and hire the absolute best person for the job. Let’s get started.
Improve Your Job Listing
The first step to hiring better candidates for your open position is to improve your job listing. The right candidate will shrewdly review job listings to determine if the description aligns with what they’re looking for in a new position. So remember that you’re not the only one being picky in the job-hunting and hiring process.
The first step to hiring better candidates for your open position is to improve your job listing. Here's why and how: Click To TweetBe sure to use the right keywords to attract high-quality candidates to your job listing. Also, in your description, be realistic about what you’re looking for. Don’t just rattle off a list of ideal qualifications that very few people possess. And don’t forget to list a salary range in your description so that you’re allowing potential candidates to self-assess if your budget meets their demands. Don’t waste time being coy about your salary offerings.
Another big deal is to erase away any implied bias in your job description. Sometimes, we unintentionally use language that may be exclusionary. Using a tool like Textio can help you identify opportunities for gender inclusion.
Don’t Let Inexperience Stop You
As mentioned in the above section, it’s important to be realistic when listing the qualifications you’re looking for in a candidate. However, keep in mind that only the rare unicorn will be able to live up to 100% of the qualifications you have in your listing. And when you meet them, they’ll ask for a higher salary than you’re likely willing to pay.
Instead, focus on candidates who may match 70% of the qualifications you have in your listing. Prioritize candidates who have demonstrated soft skills, like emotional intelligence, the ability to work with a team, or the ability to properly police their time. This will help you find the right candidate for your opening.
Look for Candidates Who are Interested in Your Organization
Prioritize the candidates who took the time to research your organization beyond what you say about yourself in your job listing. This shows that the candidate is invested in securing a future for themselves at your organization and isn’t simply submitting applications randomly. These types of candidates are better able to understand your organization from the perspective of your customers.
Hire Within
Sometimes, the best person for the job is someone who’s already working in your organization. Before looking outside of your organization for your next new hire, consider the human resources that are currently powering your organization.
Hiring from within has a ton of benefits but we’ll focus on the top two. The first benefit is that you’ll save a ton of time during the onboarding process because you don’t need to introduce your business to an employee who’s already familiar with it. The second benefit is that you’ll remain your employees for longer. Great employee retention is a metric that you can brag about.
Ask Employees to Refer Others
The next best thing to hiring from within is to ask your best employees to refer others to your open job position(s). Getting referrals from your current employees offers three major benefits.
The first benefit is that your employees are likely to recommend only their top choices of people who can do the job. So, by asking employees to refer others, you reduce the chances of encountering low-quality (and unvetted) leads.
The second benefit is that you’ll save money during the hiring process. Because you’re relying on word of mouth from your employees, you won’t need to spend a lot of money on advertising your job listing.
The third and final benefit of creating an employee referral program is that you can move through the first part of the hiring process quickly. You don’t need to weed through a ton of applications. Instead, you can focus on resumes, which tend to be more informative and personality-driven than applications.
Lean Into Remote Recruiting
Have you adopted a remote-optional or hybrid workplace? One of the best parts of adopting an alternative working model is that you can hire the best candidates from anywhere on the globe.
Even if the majority of your team is in-person, consider widening your hiring net to include candidates who may never work with the team face-to-face but have the skills (both hard and soft) to do their job remotely. By making your positions remote-optional, you can attract more employees and keep them around for a lot longer.
Streamline Your Hiring Process
Even though you’re hiring an employee, you also have to do your own job to do. It can be a lot to juggle your work tasks while also weeding through interviews and trying to find the right fit. This is why it’s key to have a process and timeline in place for hiring new employees. Try not to deviate from your set process. This way you can give candidates a reliable timeline that sets their expectations. And it also shows your potential employee that you value their time and run a well-oiled machine.
It also ensures that you don’t lose the perfect candidate to another job that is able to provide that structure and security.
Hire for the Stage that You’re in
Are you in the early stages of building your business? If you’re still in the start-up phase, the people you hire will be responsible for creating your culture from scratch. Be sure to hire people who will not only do the position(s) that you’re looking to fill but will also embody the values and personality of your business. These types of candidates also tend to be more generalist in nature.
If you’re beyond the start-up phase, you can look for candidates who fit into the existing team but are able to better perform specific roles. These specialist-type employees give you the ability to quickly grow.
Hire for Cultural Fit
Many people can learn the tools and processes that you use in your organization, so don’t get too caught up in the tool experience or inexperience. Focus primarily on whether the candidate fits into the team and cultural atmosphere that you have already established (or would like to establish). Define your company values and make it a mission in your interview to find out if the candidate’s values match yours. You can also invite multiple members from the team that they’ll be working on to interview the promising candidate. This gives you insight into whether or not the candidate fits the unique personality of the team.
Keep Your Candidates in the Know
Before, during, and once the interview process is over, be sure to keep your candidates about the next steps. Let them know what to expect at every stage of the interview process and how long it takes before they hear from you. Provide a timeline along with deadlines. Your candidate is probably interviewing with multiple companies and needs to be able to place your interview cycle into his or her overall timeline. So be courteous and share so they can plan accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Use the above tips to improve your hiring practices for 2022 and beyond. Remember that hiring is all about finding the perfect fit for your organization, not necessarily the candidate who can check off all qualification boxes.
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