Whether your small business is growing and you’re ready to make your first hire, or you’re a seasoned executive making your 100th hire, the process can often seem overwhelming and even daunting. From résumé verification to scheduling interviews, conducting background checks, and calling references, the process can be pretty arduous. In this post, we’ll give you an overview of everything you need to know about hiring to make it a much more straightforward and seamless process.
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Recruitment Essentials
Once you have decided on your hiring needs, crafted a descriptive job posting, and posted it on your desired platforms, the recruitment process is officially underway. Here’s where to start:
- Employee referrals. Do your trusted current employees know anybody who may fit the job description?
- Online job postings. There are a plethora of places online to post your job. Don’t forget about social platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, where you can blast your job posting to your network and ask for recommendations of candidates. The wider net you cast, the larger pool of highly qualified candidates you’ll have to choose from.
- Advertising on the company’s website. You can craft a compelling statement about your team, vision, and values and encourage qualified candidates to apply.
Investing in inbound recruiting is another one of our hiring best practices. It’s an online strategy to help position your business to attract the most qualified candidates. These methods include:
- Cultivating a strong social media presence. In order to cast the widest net possible, use your social media presence and post fresh and relevant content regularly. This will help you build lasting relationships with people you may want to hire.
- Optimize your website. If you want candidates to find your job postings through Google, it’s important to ensure your website is optimized to meet Google’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) standards.
- Make sure the careers section on your website is enticing. Let’s be honest, there are thousands of job listings out there. You need to make your listings stand out and compel people to apply. Make sure to fill your careers page with up-to-date information, job listings, and clear steps to apply. During the pandemic, we also recommend keeping job seekers abreast of the policies at your company. For example, do you require employees to be vaccinated? Is your team still working remotely?
A Winning Interview Strategy
Once you have attracted the best candidates for the job, it’s important to have a well-thought-out interview strategy. Here are our top tips:
- Prep your questions in advance. Just as you expect the candidate to come to the interview prepared, so do you also need to prepare. Create a list of questions before each candidate’s interview so you can incorporate questions about their unique experience, education, and skills. This upfront planning will allow the interview to stay on track and move quickly.
- Choose the right interviewer(s). The manager who will oversee the new hire should conduct or at least take part in the interview. Depending on how closely the candidate will work with other employees may dictate who else you think should be present for the interview or who the candidate should meet.
- Listen more than you speak. Start the interview with a few general questions to allow the candidate to warm up. Then, ask broader questions that will allow the candidate to take charge of the conversation and speak at length about their background.
Background and Reference Checks
Even if you think you’ve found your perfect candidate, you can’t skip the background and reference checks. This ensures the candidate is who they say they are and has the experience and expertise they claim to. Thorough background checks include verifying certain information on the candidate’s résumé, including educational credentials and previous work experience and accomplishments. It’s also important to call any references the candidate provides.
The cost of unsuccessful hires can be devastating — one report found the average cost of a bad hire can be as high as $240,000!
Cultivating a Seamless Onboarding Process
From paperwork to training manuals and introducing the new hire to the staff, it’s important to do all you can to make your new employee feel at home, including:
- Having all necessary paperwork printed and ready for the employee to review and sign, including Form I-9, W-4, and any company handbooks and manuals.
- Having the new employee’s workstation set up and ready to go. This will ensure they have a “home base” to organize their belongings and other tools they need to get the job done. Setting up their computer, email, and phone ahead of time helps them settle in quickly and feel valued from day one.
- Making sure they have access to any necessary programs. This falls in line with having their workstation ready, but there’s nothing worse than starting a new job feeling ready to get going but not being able to log in to basic systems. Avoid the delay by ensuring all software, files, and programs are ready for them to get started.
Did you know that effective employee onboarding is the most important element in helping new hires acclimate and feel comfortable while also ensuring they stay with the company for years to come? In order to ensure the best onboarding process possible, count on America’s Back Office.
How America’s Back Office Can Help
By handling all aspects of employee administration, our clients can maximize employee productivity, reduce time spent handling transactional HR tasks and reduce employment liability. This ultimately leads to lower labor costs and an increase in corporate profitability. What’s more, America’s Back Office is an IRS-certified PEO — a distinction that only 3% of PEO companies have. Get a free quote today.