- As always, one of your best resources for finding good employees is your professional network. Talk with businesspeople you know that have found success and ask them how they found their best employees! They may be able to recommend resources in your niche that you otherwise would be unaware of, like specialized job boards, social media sites, college pipeline programs, and more. This approach will also help keep the process from becoming overwhelming. Posting a listing on a site light Craigslist or even LinkedIn could bring a deluge of resumes and inquiries which may be a lot more than you want to sort through. Targeting your search will bring in more well-suited candidates and keep gigantic piles of resumes off your desk!
- Spend some real time on the job description. A well crafted job description will greatly improve the chances of a well-suited person applying, saving you and potential candidates the time and effort of interviewing a lot of people who are wrong for the job.
Evaluating applicants:
- Google them! A thorough search is probably over the top, but if you find any red flags with a simple search on Google then you likely don’t want to spend time moving forward.
- Plan for the interview as thoroughly as if you were the person being interviewed. Prepare the questions you are going to ask, and give some thought to what kind of answers you are looking for. Don’t forget to prepare for questions that the candidate may ask you! There are multitudes of styles of interviews and types of questions out there, so do some research on what might best suit your business.
- Call the references people give you! Many employers decide to skip this step, but it can be extremely helpful in deciding on a candidate. This is a great opportunity to get an outsider’s perspective on information that the candidate provided in their resume and cover letter or mentioned during their interview. It’s also a good chance to learn more about their work style, a third person will always be a better evaluator of that than the individual himself.
- If possible, test their skills in some way. If the job requires a lot of communication with the media have candidates write a press release after their interview. If it requires the employee to apply a certain regulation or rule, provide a hypothetical situation and ask them to evaluate it. If you run a factory, perhaps you might even ask a candidate to build something. Brainstorm hands-on ways that applicants can demonstrate their abilities that are relevant to what the position will require.
- Keep in mind that you are prohibited from asking applicants about their race, age, sexual orientation, marital status, or religious affiliation. Questions relating to mental or physical disabilities are prohibited unless the ability is required for performing the job.
Finally…
- Don’t be afraid to say no and keep looking. Job turnover is expensive, so don’t settle if your gut is telling you this isn’t the right person!
Of course Geisler Law is here to help – contact us today, and mention this post for a free legal review!