The Small Business Series
Being a small business owner often means wearing every possible hat, from receptionist, customer service representative, marketer to sales clerk and inventory manager to HR professional. Small business owners looking for a new hire often find themselves swamped with job applications, shuffling schedules and priorities to interview candidates, and an overwhelming sense of angst about making the correct hiring decision. While growing and needing to add additional staff is a good problem to have, it takes time to sort through a pile of resumes to find the perfect candidate that aligns with your unique mission, along with keeping up with the daily demands of running a successful business.
Rushing the process or failing to properly sort through applications can lead to hiring sub-par employees, who in turn can create unnecessary stress on your time, business and other employees. Quite frankly, a “no hire” is much more cost effective than a “bad hire”. Being aware there’s an all out war for great talent; it’s vitally important for business owners not to feel desperate to hire someone too hastily. It’s never a good practice to ignore concerning behavior during the hiring process, at times, our hearts inclines us to just give people the benefit of the doubt. If something concerns you during the hiring process it is likely to get worse post hire.
When you’re trying to hire and it seems like all the candidates are unqualified, ‘unhireable’, over-qualified; or the process is too daunting; please rely on these helpful tips that can serve as a guide to finding that stellar employee.
1. Define Great Employee Traits
This will be different for every position and certainly within every company. More importantly it’s a key element within the BIPOC community where cultural sensitivity has been largely overlooked in favor of the standard dominant norm. Initially start by checking your biases. Yes we all have them and it’s crucial to monitor them in order not to exclude a GREAT candidate. It’s really important to establish a fair and equitable hiring process that clearly defines and identifies exactly what you’re looking for.
Pro tip: Please don’t mistakenly over credential your job description. Be open to considering candidates that bring experience and skills that may not be directly tied to a post secondary educational degree.
2. Trim the Pile
- First match each resume against the clearly listed job requirements. Precisely identifying the required skills are the first step in finding your new employee.
- Next, narrow the resume stack down to the top 10 candidates who closely fit the profile.
- Schedule and conduct a phone screen. During this conversation, you can begin to check the relevance of their work experience and compatibility with the role. You should emerge with your top 3 to 5 candidates for an interview.
Pro tip: Familiarity in very similar companies as yours along with similar lived cultural experience is very helpful.
3. Invite Candidates to an Interview
- Design 3 to 5 questions that will help you determine the best candidate for the role.
- Present them conversationally, so that it puts you and the candidate at ease.
- During interviews, include someone else whether from your business or a trusted advisor to serve as a second opinion. After the interviews, have an honest discussion about who seemed to best fit the candidate profile.
Pro tip: Please don’t drag the interview / hiring process out too long. It’s a very competitive job market and you may not be your top choice’s first pick.
Prepare to extend an offer to the candidate who best fit your ideal profile or quickly conduct another round of interviews if there are two people who are equally good.
Remember it is always worth taking a bit more time recruiting, interviewing, and vetting candidates rather than making a hasty hire. “A no hire can be more cost effective than a bad hire.” Time invested up front can pay off dramatically with an excellent employee who brings great value to your company and customers.