This month we are focusing on hiring for your small business. This is the first guest post of the series. By Ben Baldwin.
Have you ever hired a new employee who didn’t turn out to be what you expected? Hiring mistakes can be avoided! Here’s how:
Step 1: Be clear about whom you’re looking for:
* What are the outcomes I need from them in the first year? Second year?
* Do I need a leader – or someone who is good at following instructions?
* Will this person be interacting with customers?
* Will they mostly work in a team or autonomously?
* Do I need someone innovative and creative, or someone who is organized?
Step 2: Establish deal breakers for skills and experience:
What are must-haves? If you find a person who is a good fit for a job, most skills can be learned. You won’t know if a person with ten years experience is any better than one with five until they start doing the job, so be careful to judge candidates based on these criteria.
Step 3: Customize your interview template for each candidate:
Focus on the candidate’s behaviors/experiences that you are uncertain about and need more information before you make you decision. If every interview is the same, you’re not maximizing your time and may be missing something important.
Ask your candidate to walk you through specific examples of their past behavior, instead of asking simple questions like “What are your greatest strength/weakness?” Dig deep! Get them to paint you a picture of what they’re like at work.
Step 4: Use an employee assessment and have others in your company interview the candidates too.
In hiring and selection, there’s a term for quick judgment, called the “halo effect.” It refers to the impression someone leaves when they first meet that person: if that person has something in common with them, they’re attractive, they can pronounce their name, they like them, etc. The problem with this snap judgment is that it can accidentally anchor an interviewer’s opinion about an interviewee – often inaccurately. This is why some leading companies, like GlaxoSmithKline, are using validated employee assessments in hiring sales employees. The twist is that they perform these hiring assessments BEFORE interviewing any candidates … even before they review applicants’ resumes (resumes are also inherently biased).
Another simple and effective HR tool is to have others at your company interview candidates, to provide their perspectives. This way; you acquire others’ involvement, opinions, perspectives, as well as their support within the organization, if you do hire the person.
Step 5: Check references yourself:
You could discover a lot during reference checks. It’s important that you not only ask for references, but also specify whom you want to speak with – before they offer – or you’ll simply be provided with a list of their friends. Another great approach to reference checking (a la Top Grading) is asking candidates to arrange personal reference calls, and ask them interview questions fronted like: “What would your boss say are your greatest achievements …” instead of just asking them for their own interpretation.
About the Author:
Ben Baldwin is the co-founder of ClearFit.com, a hiring software firm that offers patented HR tools to make hiring employees easy for small businesses. To reach Ben, you can email him at ben@clearfit.com.
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