As a business owner one of your most important on-going tasks will be hiring the right team.
To be sure, it’s far from easy. Not only is it time-consuming but there are financial and reputational consequences to consider. Bad hires are most definitely bad for business. What you need is someone who is not only technically capable but also trustworthy, conscientious and the best fit for your business.
Businesses that master the hiring process are able to attract high-quality candidates, evaluate them in a variety of different circumstances, and take time to really get to know the people in many different ways.
To start a successful hiring process it’s important to write the best job descriptions. The words you use for a job posting can deter or attract the candidates you are seeking from applying. Studies have found that long lists of requirements and responsibilities alienate qualified employees. The research indicates that instead the focus should be placed more on what your business can do for potential employees.
Let’s face it, most people want to work for businesses that are up to speed with technology trends. Indeed, one survey carried out by MIT and Deloitte discovered that most respondents, in the 22 to 60 age range, are attracted to work for digitally enabled organisations. This includes ensuring your business is mobile-friendly. A growing number of applicants use their smart phones for job searches and this usage is carried through to the jobs that we do.
Another very important aspect that needs to be born in mind is that skills can be acquired, personalities cannot. Being able to navigate social situations and working well with others are crucial skills to watch out for in candidate appraisals. Interpersonal and communication skills as well as thought processes and emotional intelligence matter.
The importance of personality cannot be overemphasised. The type of kind of person you hire is dependent on your business’s culture along with the type of job. The same person with all kinds of skills may fit well in one business but would be bad for another. The trick is to get the emotional intelligence aligned with the business. So using questions within the adverts like:
Do you walk fast?
Do you have a positive energy and can get things done?
Are you proactive and want to help people when needed?
To establish the candidate’s suitability is most efficiently done at the interview stage. But according to research by Leadership IQ failures associated with new employees may be down to their interviews being flawed. As many as 82% of the 5,000 managers Leadership IQ surveyed said that interviewers were concentrating on the wrong issues, were too rushed or lacked the confidence to pay attention to any warning signs candidates exhibited during the process.
Interviews should not focus on whether applicants are technically competent. They should instead concentrate on factors like emotional intelligence, temperament, coachability, and motivation.
Asking the right kinds of questions is key to the process. Some great questions to chisel out ambition and motivation include: “Who are you expecting to be ten years from now?” and “Why do you get up in the morning and tackle what you do?”
Then allowing candidates to interview you will also provide an opportunity of seeing what they think is important.
It isn’t a perfect science but if the personality fits you have a far better chance of success.