Hiring Top-Notch Employees

The process of finding, hiring and training quality staff requires dedication. It involves a conscious decision to profile the ideal employee, identify key job characteristics and responsibilities, establish the necessary skill sets, and use creativity to discover pools of qualified candidates. It also takes a commitment to employee training and providing the benefits and growth opportunities that build team loyalty and empowerment.

Recruiting

When creating your employee profile, be clear and precise. Know the education level, job skill, experience and qualifications you feel are necessary for success in your organization. Once you have established these criteria, you can begin looking for candidates who fit the bill. There are several possibilities:

Recruit from within. You can often find the ideal employee within your current organization. Internal promotions send a message that the company offers career-advancement opportunities for qualified, hard-working, dedicated individuals.

Many businesses have found success by creating an internal referral program. Consider offering a bonus for any recommendation that results in a successful hire. The incentive should be contingent upon a minimum length of stay.

The broadest response will come from advertising. One of the keys to successfully advertising a position is to write a clear description of the job being offered, including the title, salary, benefits, requirements and qualifications. Next, you choose the size and placement of the ad. Know how much you are willing to spend, as some resources can be expensive. Just as with any marketing campaign, you want to attract the highest number of “hits” for the least amount of money.

Evaluating Resumes

The most efficient way to weed through the candidate list is to look for key phases and buzzwords that match your employee profile. Separate them into three piles: definite, maybe and no. Beginning with the “definites,” read each resume again, following a few simple rules.

First, start at the end, where many applicants include their least flattering and relevant information. Be suspicious of “functional” resumes that focus on tasks and duties without clarifying dates of employment.

Next, look for worthwhile accomplishments that have benefited employers. This will be a good indication of a candidate’s profit-mindedness.

Finally, avoid trivial information. Some candidates puff up their resumes with achievements or experience that is unrelated to the work at hand.

Interviewing

Once you have narrowed your list, you’ll move on to interviewing potential employees, the most critical step in the hiring process. Keeping your employee profile in mind, write a series of pointed questions that will help you get the most mileage out of this brief dialogue.

The selection process for hiring is often left to a manager’s subjective bias, which is the result of feelings of a person rather than weighing objective (unbiased) attributes. A bad decision is costly because it wastes time, resources, and could result in unnecessary legal action.

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