Whether it’s your first hire or your hundredth, finding the right person for your team is not an easy task. So, we’ve put together some recruitment tips that will give you some direction and motivation to strengthen your hiring process.
Why Is Recruitment So Important?
You might have heard it before, but hearing it is often enough to snap people awake and take hiring as seriously as possible: a bad hire can cost you around 30% of the individual’s first-year expected earnings. So, if you poorly hire for a $50,000 per year position and have to fire them in the first 5 months, you’re basically throwing $15,000 down the drain. Yikes.
Why is it so expensive? The time and money spent recruiting, onboarding, and training, along with managing poor performance before you terminate, productivity loss during the transition period, and any advertising you may have done for the role. It all adds up quickly. There are also many other impacts to your business that are more difficult to put a dollar value on (but they’re definitely hurting you). Things like the added stress on your current team, risk of losing customers, and the increased chance of legal actions in the form of unlawful or discriminatory termination claims (true or not, they’ll cost you).
Recruitment Tips
So, let’s try to avoid all of those added headaches and find the right person for the job.
Slow Down!
“But, I desperately need someone right now!”. It can be a tough pill to swallow, but an empty chair is better than one with someone who is actively dragging the business (or your team) down.
As with most things, communication is key. Make sure your team knows that you’re trying to find the right candidate. You’re trying to find someone who will make their jobs easier, not the other way around. It can be hard, but the extra time spent finding the right fit will pay off in the long run.
Soft Skills Matter!
Let’s say you have two candidates you’re looking into:
- Bob has a 4-year degree and 10 years of experience in his field.
- Jim has a 2-year degree and 7-years of experience in his field.
If you could get either one for the same salary, it might seem like a no-brainer to hand Bob his contract and say “sign here”. But what if I told you that Jim actually does speaking engagements too? He also did incredibly well during his interview and had sales experience before moving into his current role?
You definitely need someone who can do the job, but don’t ignore leadership, communication, problem-solving, time-management, and teamwork skills. Soft skills can be tougher to teach, so banking on those things and counting on the person to get better can be a really fantastic strategy.
Lean On Referrals!
If you have a strong team around you already, there’s a good chance that they’ll know someone in their professional network who might be a good fit. You can also incentivize these referrals through things like vacation, financial, or price bonuses (if they make it through probation, of course!).
Try First, Hire Later
If you want to find out how a new position or employee will fit with the rest of the team, you might want to consider a contract hire or fractional position first. You might find out that there actually isn’t enough work for them, the role needs to be altered slightly, or you need to prioritize other skills than you first thought.
You know what else can help? How about some first-hand knowledge from an HR professional? Well would you look at that! We just happen to have invited an expert who has worked with small start-ups, large institutions, and just about everything in between, Carrie Thomas, Founder of Nimbus HR Solutions, to the Business That Matters Podcast!
Join Warren as he talks with Carrie about the real role that HR should play in your business, delivering beyond expectations, compliance, and much more! “The things that HR puts in place are the walls. You’re going to rub up against them sometimes, but they help keep everyone on track with their eyes on the road.”
