Hire Like the Pros II

In Part I of our Hire Like the Pros series, we detailed the process of setting up a good hire, creating a compelling job description and job post, preparing your questions and getting your job ad on appropriate job boards. Now let’s look as some tips on structuring a good interview, as well as the selection and hiring process.

So now that you’ve got some resumes and applicants flowing in thanks to your great job post and description, let’s get into how we go about identifying, selecting and hiring the right person.

Potential Candidate Selections

You should have created a list of critical skills and “must haves” during the preparation process. With this list, you should quickly scan the resumes you have and do somewhat of a triage and sort the resumes by hot, warm and cold candidates. Hot includes those that have the critical skills you need. Warm are those that include some of the critical skills and perhaps some alternative skills that might be useful in case you don’t find the exact person you need. Cold are those resumes you received from hair stylists or limo drivers applying for your lab technician position.

Start with a Phone Interview

Schedule your phone interviews quickly! Good people tend to disappear rapidly in a hot market. The term “ghosts” is a buzzword in the recruiting industry, referring to people that seem qualified, and interested in the position, but then disappear with no notice whatsoever.

During that first phone interview, introduce yourself, the company and the process you have planned for any successful candidates. Ask prequalifying questions based on your critical list and eliminate those that either live too far, don’t want to work in your industry, are looking for benefits you don’t have, and so on.

You just don’t want to waste your time on someone who isn’t right. If someone seems to be a good fit, sell the company a bit, and ask this candidate about their workstyle and expectations before you set that in-person interview. Let the process of these first few candidates be a part of the interview process. Do they respond well? Send you a thank you note? Show up on time? Listen to your gut, are there any red flags?

Document the Process

Document this process in case you somehow end up in a discrimination claim of any kind. You can utilize our Candidate Rating Worksheet to track each client and their skills, qualifications and ratings.

In-person Interview

Set the interview as quickly as possible when you have a qualified candidate. Be sure to use a prepared list of questions but also be prepared to improvise as you learn new information. Look for immediate deal breakers. Make sure you see a few potential candidates and get buy in from your team throughout the process. Set up multiple interviews if necessary, but keep in mind, good candidates move quickly and they might find another job if you drag your feet.

Written Job Offer

When you find that star employee that will make a good fit in your business, be sure to offer them the job verbally. Then send a formal written job offer fully describing the position, rates, hours, benefits and any contingencies, such as reference checks, background checks or drug screening.

Keep in touch with the successful candidate throughout the process as even after a job offer is accepted, things can change.

Hopefully, you did your job throughout this process and the result is a qualified employee, that will become a valuable member of your team.

It’s a whole different subject…but be sure you have a good Onboarding process in place so your new hire ramps up quickly and is set up for success.