We all want our business to be populated by the best, the brightest, and the most motivated. However, when it comes to actually finding our team, many business owners and managers simply don’t put in the work. They treat like finding people to fit a pair of shoes and a gap in the office, rather than a real member of the team. Here, we’re going to look at how you ensure you’re ending up with the cream of the crop and not the rest.
Know what you need
It’s unfortunate that so many businesses skip this step or use templates they find online. You need to take the time to develop a real job description. It’s all too easy to miss out on the duties, responsibilities, and qualifying elements that a job really demands when you throw up a generic description. If you’re trying to appeal for excellence, then your job description needs to make it clear.
Know where to look
Advertising a new hire is all well and good, and you should make use of what resources you can to cast as wide a net and have the best chance of finding a good fit. However, you shouldn’t rely only on advertising. Look to industry recruitment specialists and see if they can help you increase the quality of your pool of candidates. Tap into networking recruitment, visiting job fairs and networking events to find the promising candidates who are actively out there looking to find their place in the industry.
Systemise the process
Recruiting a new member of the team shouldn’t be something that you improvise. You should research and develop recruitment process steps, with clear goals and actions for each step. Finding candidates, narrowing them down, pre-screening questions, interviewing, and the assessments and evaluations of the shortlist process should all be written down and prepared in advance. By preparing the steps ahead, you reduce the work you have to do during the actual process, so you can spend your time and energy thinking about those choices. If you have goals and qualities for candidates to tick, list them down ahead of time so they’re much easier to track and rank as you get deeper into the process, too.
Make sure they’re a cultural fit
All too often, managers and business owners focus only on the practical aspects of what the applicants bring to the table, rather than how they’re genuinely going to fit the workforce. Someone who is motivated by self-interest won’t be a good fit for a more cooperative, holistic company culture, no matter how qualified they might be. Not only will they not fit in and work well with the team, but they can reduce staff retention by impacting the job satisfaction of those they work with, too.
Just like any other part of running a business, the more you put into recruitment, the more you get back as a result. Hopefully, the tips above give you an idea of the proactive, thorough approach you need to build a top-tier team.
