Avoid 3 Common Hiring Mistakes That Employers Make
A lot of small-to-mid-sized businesses are making the same basic hiring mistakes over and over again. These mistakes are hurting their ability to hire great employees.
Five years ago if you needed to hire someone for your company, you put an ad in the newspaper. Maybe you even put up some job postings online. Many times, the resumés poured in, and you had your pick of talented individuals all vying for a position with your company.
Now things have changed. You post job ads in print and on online, but you only get a trickle of candidates. Many of them are unqualified or have less than ideal employment histories. Does this sound familiar? If you can answer “yes” to this question, you are in the same boat as almost every other business owner or hiring manager out there.
There are a few key reasons for the current shortage, but it mostly has to do with a rebounding economy resulting in more selective job seekers and a general lack of skilled workers. The Millennial generation has a part in this too, but that is another topic entirely.
A lot of small-to-mid-sized businesses are making the same basic mistakes over and over again. These mistakes are hurting their ability to hire great employees. Here's one of those mistakes and ways to correct it.
Hiring Mistake #1: You don’t have a recruiting strategy.
If you were about to roll out a new product or service, you would put careful thought into how to present the product to your target market. You would consider the best way to use your marketing dollars to reach your target customer. You would look at what your competitors are doing to market similar products and determine what makes your product unique and a better value for the customer. You would have a strategy.
Wouldn’t it make sense to consider all those same things when you are looking to hire your next employee?
Throwing a job posting on Monster, Indeed, or the local newspaper is not a strategy for hiring great people. It’s a way of getting résumés that may or may not be from the type of person you want. Hiring an employee to join your team is a tremendous responsibility, and you want to get the best available candidates to apply for your job.
Hiring Mistake #1: The Fix
While there are many ways to go about tackling this problem, we suggest a simple but effective fix: ask some questions and make a plan.
This could be cumbersome fix, but to help guide you, here are some important questions that you should ask yourself. The answers will help you develop a strategy for finding the right person for your team.
What will this person accomplish during their first year in this role?
What work will they be doing?
Are there any existing employees who may be interested in this position?
Why should someone work for my company instead of working for one of my competitors?
What job boards are most likely to reach my target candidates (niche publication, newspaper, Craigslist, Monster, LinkedIn, Indeed, Career Builder, or GlassDoors)?
Do I have a well-written job ad?
What is my total budget for marketing this position?
Should I consider using a recruiter to help fill this position?
Who is going to be reviewing the resumes?
Who will be on the interview team?
Is everyone involved in the hiring decision in agreement about what we are looking for?
Do I have a list of interview questions that I can ask each candidate?
Use these questions to help position your company to make more informed hiring decisions.
If you are struggling with finding and hiring the right people, you may want to consider working with an outside resource to help you strengthen and streamline this process.