What now?
You know you need help, and you have a rough idea of what you need help with, but do you have a detailed plan to have a successful hire?
First things first…create a clear outline for the position.
Consider the following:
- Daily actions to be carried out
- Any periodic goals you expect to be met
- Skills & qualities required to better your business
- Experience and education desired
- Type of hire; employee or freelancer
- Wage; salary, hourly, commission, and/or bonuses
- Benefits
Once you have a clear outline, bring it all together in a well written job description with position duties, business information and culture, requirements, benefits and compensation (if you have an established amount or range and wish to make public), workplace conditions and physical demands.
What next?
Determine where you want to post your hiring ad.
Job seekers use these top resources to apply:
- Indeed
- Monster
- UpWork (for freelancers)
If you use Indeed, you can add mandatory questions during an application which will take out a step for you later. After applications are submitted you can review them and filter by answers to find the candidates you are interested in.
Share your ad
- Post about the opening on your social media platforms
- Include the title, a brief description and where to apply with a link
- Include a pop-up about hiring or a static item on your website
- Email your contacts to share the news
How to chose?
So by now you should have reviewed the applications and narrowed down your choices. You can either email them or call them to ask any additional questions you may have and if you are happy with their answers, schedule an interview to dive in deeper.
Some employers like to use DISC Profiles which are personality tests completed by the applicant. It has four parts, Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. There are several different kinds of personality tests for free online. The results allow you to review how the applicant may handle everyday tasks and situations and their behavioral attributes.
When it comes down to choosing, trust your gut.
Offering the Position
It’s time to offer the position to your candidate of choice! Include an employee contract that leaves very little room for important questions and misunderstandings.
- Job title, location, type of position, hours, vacation, sick days, and pay with schedule
- Any probationary period
- Accountability required like daily or weekly meetings
- Role summary
- Initiative required like communication, behavioral expectations, etc.
- Explanation of confidentiality required, trade secrets, and intellectual property
- Dress code
- Thorough list of duties by category
- Supervisory duties and/or who the hire reports to
- Signatures
Training
Your applicant of choice has accepted your offer but you’re not done yet! This step is crucial for the success of the new hire. They may have extensive experience in the field or they may be brand new…base your training off of what they need to do their very best. No matter who you hire, there will be at least some training involved.
Before hiring, it may be beneficial to film videos on how to complete recurring tasks. We use Loom to film. You can use download the program online and use your microphone and/or video while filming your computer screen. Then add the videos to a shared folder or a program like Trainual for a streamlined training process. Have a current employee or your new hire go through all of the training and provide feedback to ensure videos are easily understood and to offer any suggestions to improve the training material.
Keep in mind training videos are a great tool and can save you time after hiring, but remember that one on one interaction and oversight is key. New hires should feel that they can come to their supervisor with any questions or concerns to do their job correctly.
Get out there and grow your business!
The process is a bit time consuming and you need to be strategic about it but if you put in the work you will be one step closer to growing your business and ensuring your success with a team of individuals who are with you along the way.