What to Consider Before Hiring An Employee
Recruiting the right candidates to join your company can be very challenging. The truth is that what makes a successful company is the workforce behind it. Without recruiting the right candidates, a company that has been thriving so well can go from 100 to 0. As your company grows in clientele and products, it is without a doubt that you will need new employees.
The importance of recruiting the right candidate can not be overemphasized. No matter how smart you are as an entrepreneur, you can not run your company alone. You will need professionals in different fields to run your business, starting from the manufacturing of the product till it gets to the consumers. To maintain a high level of productivity in each stage, you need the right candidates at every stage to uphold and surpass standards. Small firms feel they do not have enough time or resources to devote to employment processes.
Recruitment processes can indeed be time and money-consuming but hiring the wrong candidate will frustrate you and cost you more than you would have spent on recruitment processes. The impact a wrong candidate will make can be very detrimental to the growth of your company. Imagine assigning millions of naira to an employee for a project, just for him to end up messing the project up. You have not only lost the money, time and effort invested but you have no visible outcome to show for the resources wasted. A good human resource officer without the right knowledge can hire the right candidate without spending outside of the budget.
Things to consider before hiring an employee
Understand the companies need
Every Humana resource officer should have a blueprint of the company’s structure. Just because company A or B has a particular role in their blueprint, does not mean your company will need an extra hand to handle that role. Also, you need to consider the timeframe. Is there an immediate need to create this position? For instance, a new startup might not have an immediate need for customer service personnel since they do not have a large client base yet. Another thing to consider is the availability of current staff to handle the task. In the example given above, administrative personnel can equally handle the duties of customer service personnel. So instead of hiring a new candidate entirely, you can combine the task into one and increase the salary of the administrative personnel. Hiring without knowing the company’s needs can be detrimental to both the company and the employee. This is because the candidate might have all the skills and experience but there is no duty to carry out. This is because the person’s role does not contribute to the success of the business. The employee will be tied down to a company where he is not developing or gaining new skills, while the company will be paying the employee for doing nothing.
Define your expectation for the role before advertising
It is important to have a clear view of the expectations of a particular role. It might be true that the organization needs a professional to fill in a particular gap in the company, but what is this professional to do when he comes in. Having this at the back of your mind will help you define the success parameters of the role. Knowledge of the success parameters or performance indicators will help you identify the right candidate to fill in the role. This will give you a clear idea of what to look out for in a candidate.
Ensure the job description is well detailed
Before advertising a vacant role, make a detailed list of what the job description entails. As the popular saying goes “time is money”, save yourself the stress of sifting through thousands of applications just to find the right applicant. A crystal-clear job description will land you a laser-focused job candidate pool. Even though you are not handling the task personally, save your subordinates the stress of going through tons of applications. Attracting the right candidate starts with crafting a detailed job description that contains all the information a candidate will need to personally judge if he is a good fit for the job role.
When advertising, be sure to include the following
Job title: When a candidate goes to a job site or app like indeed or LinkedIn to apply for a job, the first thing he types is the job title he wants to apply for. In a case where your job title is ambiguous or not related to the role you want to hire for, it might mislead applicants.
Overview of the company: This gives the candidate a little idea of what the company is all about. Is it a pharmaceutical company or a financial institution? A candidate might be experienced in a particular role but his experience might not be relevant to another company. For instance, administrative personnel for an automobile company might find it hard to fill the role of administrative personnel in a financial institution. Again, the company’s overview can give the candidate an idea of the company’s culture.
Job description: a detailed note of what the candidates day to day functions should be mentioned here. Even the smallest detail is important, cause what you consider as minor might be a no-go area for another person. For instance, a candidate might not like the idea of working extra hours or weekends, but to a hiring manager that has been working extra hours for a long, it is a small sacrifice to contribute to the growth of the company.
Job requirements: You should state what the requirements to successfully apply for the position is. Every single detail that you consider essential to function optimally in the position, should be included.
Remuneration: Even though it’s not compulsory to include the salary in the advert. It is necessary to put the range the company is willing to pay. So if the candidate feels it’s not within his range, he will move on and apply to another position. Another importance of including the remuneration is that it acts as a source of motivation for some employees, especially those in the sales and marketing roles. The idea of commission or incentive will inspire them to apply.
Consider the candidate’s experience
A candidate’s previous experience is always the first thing to consider. You want to bring in talented hands that will get things moving, not a candidate that still has to go through numerous training to catch up. Unless you are recruiting for an entry role, this should be your first point of contact. Look out for the candidate’s achievements in that role. If the candidate has performed well in that role, the possibility of replicating the same success in your organization is high. An experienced hire will not only adapt easily but also bring in new ideas from the previous company he worked for. Every company has its mode of operation, it will not be so bad to learn something new from the employee while he learns about the new environment too. This is often more interesting when the candidate comes from a company that is a direct competitor of your company.
Consider the candidate’s educational background
This is always a good factor to look out for when hiring entry-level employees. At this level candidates hardly have the experience to account for, asides from volunteering work, industrial training, or part-time work. This factor could be a great way to assess a candidate’s ability to fill a role. For instance, if you are recruiting for a medical representative, it is advisable to look out for candidates who have studied biological sciences, pharmacy, and medical courses. This is because the candidate has a deep knowledge of the field and will be able to communicate the unique selling points of your products to a client.
Check if the candidate is a cultural fit
A company’s culture is simply the way the company operates. It is the way of life of the company. It is essential to determine if the candidate’s personality directly fits into the company’s culture. The first step will be to identify the candidate’s personality. Several companies have included personality tests and culture fit tests into their recruitment processes. The test is said to not have a right or wrong answer, but there are predetermined parameters the candidate is judged by. Another means to achieve this, is by asking behavioral questions during an interview. These behavioral questions urge the candidate to tell a story or give a scenario about a particular situation he has been in. The candidate’s response will help you determine if he is a good fit for the company.
Ask the right interview questions
Just as prospective candidates surf the internet to dig up questions an interviewer might probably ask, so are you required to prepare a list of questions to ask the candidate. Any fishy comment in the candidate’s resume can be clarified during an interview. Remember a stitch in time saves nine, if you can identify and let go of an unqualified candidate early, it will save you the stress of going through the recruitment processes again. This does not include the money and the resources that will be wasted.
Plan your recruitment strategy
Every company should have a structured means of recruiting candidates. As a hiring manager, you need to know who your target audience is and which recruitment process is right for them. If your target is experienced hires, you should consider leaving out the primary maths and English test stage. Focus on interviews and get to know what they can offer. Also, knowledge of your target audience will help you determine the dates to set your interviews. A good number of the candidates coming for the interview might be working somewhere. You will not expect the candidate to forfeit his daily duties at work to go for another job interview.
Conduct a background check
If a candidate has passed through the different recruitment stages and had been found worthy, you can further assure yourself he is the right candidate by running a background check. You can call the university he claims to have attended, call his former employer, call his reference and also run a social media investigation.
Check your finances
Before looking for extra hands, you should consider the resources available. Asides from salary, there are numerous money-consuming terms you need to check. This includes employment taxes, compensation fees, medical insurance, and pension. If the candidate needs to relocate, are you willing to cover the expenses? If the role requires a lot of traveling, are you ready to cover the transportation and accommodation? These are a few of the hundreds of things that could cost you money.
Knowledge of the law
A human resource manager or officer should be well vexed with legal terms associated with employees. As the head of a department that is in charge of the welfare of staff members, you should be knowledgeable about the law. Under the law, there is a procedure or an acceptable way of doing things. The law protects the rights of both the company and the prospective candidate. As a hiring manager, you should know when to draw the line in certain things, to avoid breaching the candidate’s rights. There are things to which employees are legally entitled. This can range from wages, flexible work hours, maternity leave, annual leave, bonuses, and medical insurance.