Tips for Making the Right Hiring Decision

Making the right hiring decision can be instrumental in driving a company’s success or contributing to its demise. Choosing the best individual for the position is not a simple task, however, and many business owners, especially owners and leaders of small companies in which there are few employees, have minimal experience in this task.

Here are three important hiring tips to help you make the right decisions and save yourself the time, money and aggravation that are associated with making the wrong selection:

Understand the required qualifications for the position.
It’s difficult to make the right hiring decision when you don’t have clarity about the job itself. Do you know the requisite qualifications that would enable someone to succeed in the position? Do you know what is the position’s day-to-day? The best way to think this through is to create a comprehensive job description and include all of the necessary skills and responsibilities for the job. It’s also important to take into account the type of personality that would be most successful not just in the position itself but in your company as well.

Conduct a job search that is appropriate for the position.
There are a plethora of ways to find job candidates including search firms, social media platforms, online job boards, networking and referrals from friends and employees. Despite so many sources, you’ll have a better chance of hiring the right person if you look for qualified candidates in the “right” places. Of course you can “get lucky” and identify a great employee in the most random way possible, but the odds are against you. Think about the position and search accordingly.

Consider using a team approach or include employee testing as part of the hiring process.
You might be accustomed to making all of the decisions, but in the hiring process it is often better to seek objective feedback from others that know the position and the company. If possible create a hiring “team” that can go through the process with you. You might want to also consider utilizing employee testing to get a better insight into the strengths and potential weaknesses of the candidates you are considering for the job.

What are their references really saying?
Everyone checks references when making a new hire, but it is the questions that you ask that can really provide insights into the candidates and how they might work out for you. Make certain to find out if the candidate reported to the reference or how closely they worked together. (Candidates will often provide a reference to someone in their previous company that is more of a “friend” than someone to whom they actually reported or had some accountability.) If you are short on time get right to the heart of the matter and find out if they would hire this individual again and then ask why. (That sort of sums it up, doesn’t it!)

And remember: hiring is really a two-way street; while you are busy evaluating the candidates they are also evaluating you. Make certain to put your best foot forward and make a good impression lest you find yourself wanting to hire specific individuals that are not interested in your company and for reasons entirely within your control!