6 Key Tips for Hiring for a Small Business

Is your small business growing too large to manage on your own? Or perhaps one member of your team has recently moved on from your company? In both cases, bringing new employees aboard may be necessary. However, taking on new-hires can cause anxiety for business owners and other staff members. Finding exactly the right person to make your team stronger is no simple feat. The hiring process is also frequently time-consuming. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to make the experience better for all involved. These tips for hiring are just a few ideas you can try when expanding your work force:

• Write a good job description
• Deliberately seek out candidates
• Interview like a pro
• Be honest
• Check candidates’ credentials
• Reject politely

Write a Good Job Description

The job description is one of the most important parts of the hiring process. This document not only clarifies to your business what you’re looking for in an employee, but also lets prospective candidates know what is expected of them. By writing a strong, clear description you can avoid the hassle of receiving applications from unqualified or poor-fit job seekers. Make sure you clearly outline the scope of work expected of the successful candidate as well as the qualifications they should have prior to applying. Also, avoid industry buzzwords; they may look professional on paper but they only serve to obscure the role and may make your business appear bland and average.

This is one of the most important tips for hiring to keep in mind because the job description can make or break the experience.

Deliberately Seek Out Candidates

Many businesses share job postings on websites like Indeed and LinkedIn. While both sites are great at getting the word out there, you may receive a massive amount of applications from complete strangers. Of course, one of those strangers may be your next employee of the month, but sifting through them to find the star candidate is time consuming and may prove disappointing. In addition to a public post, connect with contacts you may have in the industry to see if they can recommend anyone who might be the right fit for your company. This makes the “get-to-know-you” aspect of hiring easier, and can help you be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of suggested candidates.

Tips for Hiring: Interview Like a Pro

A common mistake hiring managers make is believing that they’re the one conducting the interview. In truth, the candidate is holding an interview of their own to decide whether or not your company is one they want to work for. For this reason, it’s in your best interests to make sure the process runs smoothly and professionally. Be on time, dress well, use your manners. In addition, review the candidate’s resume ahead of time to come up with some questions specifically for them. All of this will help put your company in the best light possible.

Be Honest

One of the most important tips for hiring is to be honest with potential candidates. In every interview, you should open the floor up to the candidate to ask questions about you and your organization. Even if those questions don’t have flattering answers, do not lie. For example, a candidate may ask how often they’ll be expected to work on weekends. Don’t tell them it will rarely be required if people in your company work most weekends. Although you may think the answer puts you into a negative light, hiring someone with a lie is likely to result in them quitting soon after. In turn, you would have to start the hiring process over again.

Check Candidates’ Credentials

If you’re honest in your interview, you would expects candidates to be as well. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. People vying for a job may say whatever they feel is needed to come out ahead of the competition. In some cases, that may require them to strongly embellish or tell lies about their credentials. Rather than accepting everything a candidate says at face value, take the time to check the credentials of your top candidates. Call their previous employers, ask for proof of education, etc. Doing your due diligence now will prevent unpleasant situations from arising later if you accidentally hired a candidate who misrepresented themselves in the interview phase.

Reject Politely

Finally, remain polite even when rejecting a candidate for the position. Although they might not be right for this position, that doesn’t mean a candidate might not be right for your business in the future; you don’t want to burn bridges. In addition, a rude or abrupt rejection may cause the candidate to complain about your business to others, which could result in negative word-of-mouth marketing.

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