How to hire (and get hired)
7 ways to improve your hiring process and find great employees
Finding top talent takes a combination of strategy, creativity, patience, and focus. Today’s technology has made it easier than ever for small business owners to publish job postings. While that convenience seems appealing at first, somewhere along the line it began impacting the quality of those postings, the hiring experience and, ultimately, candidates.
When a small business owner takes on the additional responsibility of hiring, we often hear the same question: Where do I start? After a quick conversation about the basics, it often uncovers a flurry of additional questions… What should the job title be? What should compensation look like? How much PTO should I offer? What questions can and can’t I ask? Will you be part of interviews and the offer? Can you help with some parts or help with everything?
While the specific elements of a hiring process are unique to each company (and sometimes even to the open position you are hiring for), there are some general steps that most hiring processes include:
Write a job description that accurately reflects the hiring need.
Advertise and recruit for the open position.
Analyze and review candidate resumes, cover letters and applications.
Conduct screenings, interviews and any applicable assessments.
Run a background check and contact references.
Make a hiring decision and extend the offer.
We know hiring can get overwhelming for small business owners. Especially considering the impact that the right hire can have on your business when you’re thinking about long-term growth, stability and customer or product support. Every step requires the right focus and a thoughtful approach.
Whether you are looking to establish or enhance your hiring process, consider these 7 recruitment strategies we’ve used to help our clients captivate job seekers, create a memorable first impression and successfully hire top candidates.
1. Start with a strong employer brand.
It’s been reported that more than 75% of candidates weren't actively looking for jobs, but were open to new opportunities. Building a strong employer brand can both reduce employee turnover and encourage passive candidates to choose your company.
Part of managing your employer brand is managing your online reputation. Potential employees often seek insider information about companies they want to work for including salary estimates, interview experience insights and reviews from current and former employees. Top candidates may not even consider applying if businesses have poor ratings or incomplete profiles on popular job sites like Glassdoor, Indeed or LinkedIn.
With a positive employer brand as your foundation, you'll be a highly sought-after organization giving your recruitment efforts a head start.
2. Write better job descriptions.
Writing an attention-grabbing and thorough job description is arguably one of the most important (and most difficult) parts of the hiring process. Though it sounds simple enough, how are you making sure the skills and requirements match up to the talent you are trying to attract? How do you make sure the talent you’re attracting fits the needs of your company? How do you make sure you have the right balance of definition and flexibility?
We recommend starting with a job description that accurately outlines what this role looks like and clearly defines responsibilities. Make sure your expectations are realistic and well represented based on what this person will do, who they interact with, and to what extent they’ll impact your business’ goals.
Additionally, we recommend keeping in mind how this job description will be utilized down the road in performance reviews. It should be a fluid document, revisited annually to best reflect how the role and person have changed.
3. Improve your interviews.
The pandemic has created major changes in the way interviews need to be conducted. While we expect to continue to see increased virtual meetings, we think it is very important to maintain the highest level possible of personal connection. Body language, eye contact, dress, etc. can say a lot about a person and right fit.
However, as important as it is for them to make a good first impression, their first impression of you can be even more critical. It’s important to make them feel like you’re just as excited about getting to know them as they are about being considered for the role. Whether it’s a phone screening, video or in-person interview, the questions you ask are your best opportunity to get to know each other. It’s only natural to focus on making sure new hires are technically competent, but other factors - like coach-ability, emotional intelligence, temperament, and motivation - are often overlooked.
Give candidates the chance to show you the person they are now and who they hope to be. Remember what we said about keeping the future state of their job description in mind? Communicating those thoughts and plans is a great opportunity to discuss what they hope to see for their own future.
4. Fit the personality to the job.
As an HR partner, we always start with experience and education, of course. However, we often find the most important question to be: Do their values line up with the company’s? During the selection process, consider how a candidate's personality traits align with the daily job tasks. Are they proactive and willing to do what it takes to both do and learn the job? Although the right skill set may seem like the most important factor in whether a candidate is a good fit, the truth is that skills can be acquired, but personalities cannot.
It feels simple enough, but even small acts of etiquette can give you big insights. Thoughtful details like including a cover letter or references up front or following up with a thank you are all important (and simple ways) for a candidate to stand out.
5. Use social media.
Social media is a fantastic recruiting tool. Social recruiting allows you to share job postings with your entire network and encourages a two-way conversation. Even if the people you reach aren’t interested in the role you’re hiring for, it’s likely they may know someone who is a good fit.
At Approach, we’ve definitely seen the value in social sharing both on your own channels as well as ours. Every job we help to hire for utilizes a digital strategy including our own website and social media channels. You never know where the right like or share will help boost your job visibility.
Additionally, by being active on social media yourself, your company’s shared photos and videos from company events and day-to-day office life goes back to supporting your employer brand and gives potential applicants a glimpse into your company culture.
6. Move as quickly and efficiently as possible.
With hiring being so competitive these days, we recommend that you have a process established and be ready to act quickly. Top talent won’t stay in consideration long. Some reports even say strong candidates are off the market in 10 days.
So be thoughtful, but also be fast, especially when you know you're interested in a specific applicant. Even if you’re not ready to make a decision, follow up with the candidate often and respond to any questions or concerns right away. This keeps them updated throughout the process and ensures you stay on their radar.
7. Find the right partner
Why would a small business need to work with a recruitment partner like Approach to hire? From writing job descriptions and ads to conducting interviews and reference checks, an experienced HR professional ultimately helps you save time with a more efficient process and provides the added benefit of a more robust network.
We’ve helped many small businesses navigate the hiring process and improve their recruitment practices including Jackie Wurm, Owner/President of IntegriPrint. See what she has to say about what we can do to support your next hire.
In what ways did Approach support your hiring efforts?
Approach supported my hiring efforts in so many ways... Placing ads on social media, online job boards, newspapers and colleges. Reviewing incoming resumes and presenting candidates who fit the requirements of the position. Conducting initial phone interviews and assisting with in-person interviews.
Then, once we chose a candidate, Approach prepared the offer letter, contacted the candidate and ensured all the required onboarding paperwork was done correctly.
At what point did you decide, as a business owner, that outside support was necessary?
I realized it was time to get outside support when I was struggling with ad content and knowing where to go to find workers. I just didn’t have the time to get it all done.
Did working with Approach change your process in any way?
I wouldn’t say this changed our process, but it made it so much easier and gave me the confidence in the end that everything was done correctly.
What would you recommend for those struggling to hire right now?
Hire a professional. The expense is worth the peace of mind and time to do what you do best.
What were some of your biggest takeaways from the hiring process after working with Approach?
My biggest takeaway after using Approach is that you can struggle through and waste a lot of time or hire a professional so you can spend your time doing the things needed to grow your business.
At this point, you might think - I’ve made it! I’m done. But, not quite. There’s a final step that often goes underrepresented in the hiring process: onboarding the new employee. Accurately completing new hire paperwork and a complete onboarding is crucial for a successful hire. Spending the time and money on the hiring and then falling off when bringing the employee in for their first day is a big misstep that happens to a lot of businesses.
This is another place Approach often works to support our clients to make sure that a carefully selected person feels welcome and part of the team as soon as possible. Consider an appreciation gift for this milestone as a way to get everyone off to the right start.
With the job market tight and everything still very virtual, we believe it’s more important now, than ever, to really connect with qualified candidates and drive excitement about the role and your company. To do that you have to find ways to stand out from other employers with a thoughtful hiring process and recruitment strategy.
Let us know how we can help you build a strategy for performance reviews that helps support your business.