There comes a time when your business grows, and you efforts become stretched too thin. Too much to do and not enough time to do it all yourself.

Might be the time to hire some additional help. It’s worrying opening the doors to new people you have never met before. Takes a lot of courage to take these steps and employ people you have just met. Eventually you have to take the plunge.

Try our online invoicing software for free

Send professional-looking invoices
Accept online payments with ease
Keep track of who's paid you

Start sending invoices

Open up the doors to the outside and let some new faces in. You may be surprised how a well selected employee can enhance your business.

Continue reading on to find out how to implement the best tactics to weed out the bad apples and choose the right employees.

1. Job Description

Before you even begin looking for employees, you must have a job to offer. When tackling the job description you need to be careful how you approach this. The job description is what attracts candidates to come to you.

To start attracting suitable talent, prepare a great job description. You need something that would inspire and make people consider working for you as a good career decision for them.

Honesty is key here. Recruits need to be very well aware of all the job responsibilities that will be asked of them.

Be specific with the qualifications that are required for this job. You may want capable individuals that will require the least amount of training. Training is expensive and time consuming thing – you want to avoid that if possible. Interns may need extensive training if you decide to go down that route.

When creating a job description, some employers decide to put down the wage or salary that they should expect working in this position. Others choose to go the alternate route; you ask the applicant what they expect to get paid.

Decide how you will approach the employee compensation. Having the pay listed on the site and having the recruit tell you what they expect to get paid come with both negatives and positives.Think hard about how you will proceed with this.

2. Checklist for Employees

Checklists are important when doing projects, buying groceries and hiring new employees. It’s a list of necessities, something your potential employees can’t be without.

Be as precise as you can when creating this checklist. Highlight all the essential qualities and skills that you are looking for in a person. Be absolutely sure that the checklist you make contains all the necessary talent and qualities that you are looking for in the individual.

The checklist is also important for when the time comes to actual hiring. It will be easier for you to come up with an ironclad employment offer if you already have the list skills and tasks that will be a part of a new employee’s job.

3. Careful Review

Review your recruits carefully. Don’t make any sudden decisions without going through your checklist couple times. Hiring someone is not a decision you make lightly.

When looking at the resume, check and see if the person has done any volunteering, or team based extracurricular activities. This might give you some insight as to what type of work environment he or she may be looking for.

That may also reveal if the individual enjoys participating in groups and will be a capable team player.

4. References

Take a careful note of their references. Do they have any? If not, why not? Are they too lazy to even put down their friends or family as a reference?

References can be used to verify their claims on the applications. Don’t be afraid to call the references – their previous employers or even their friends or family. Inquire them about what type of person the recruit claims to be.

If they have previous employers as references, make sure they specify what the job is and their job position. Of course talking to a close supervisor of the recruit will lead you to more meaningful information of their previous job performance.

5. Curiosity

Curiosity is very nice to see in a person when they are looking for employment. Shows their desire to find out how your business operates and their willingness to learn.

Inquire them about any questions that they may have for you. Are they eager to find out more about your company and the job position? Are the questions the ones that they could have found the answer to in the job description? Any questions they have when the answer should have been on the job description?

Take note of the types of questions you are being asked. If some of them could have been answered just by reading the job offer, then maybe they aren’t the observant type. You should avoid those types of recruits.

6. Admitting Faults and Shortcomings

Everyone has faults and everyone has encountered some shortcomings in themselves and the work that they have done.  If they can’t admit that, they are not being honest with you.

An employee that has the courage to disclose these things about themselves is great. Being open about mistakes shows integrity and that’s what you want in your employees. This could make it easier to build trust with an individual like that.

Try and dig a little deeper into their past work related mistakes. Find out where that happened and what they did to fix them. Ask them what they were able to learn from those faux pas of the past.

7. Commitment

How does their employment history look like? Is their CV filled with short term employment? Be careful with those people. It clearly shows their lack of structure and commitment to their work place.

Keep in mind that even if the person meets your criteria, and seems like a great character but their employment history is questionable it might not be the best pick.

People that don’t stick around for too long can cost you. When they decide to leave, you will become short staffed until you find a replacement.

Think of how much time and money will cost you to look for a new recruit and train them to be capable for the job. And not only that, but you and others might have to stick around the work place longer covering the hours of the person who decided to jump ship.

8. Interns

Don’t forget about interns. Hiring them can be an amazing opportunity to discover some fresh and motivated future employees.

Depending on the area you operate in, some internship can be unpaid. You can take advantage of that. You will instantly see how motivated some people are to do their job right and others who are just coasting by.

Look at local colleges and universities. Post fliers up in faculties that will best fit your job offer. Some of them also have career days. Try and set up a stand during that time and wait for students to come to you.

9. Keep Improving the Process

Your interviewing and hiring process should be always evolving. Don’t settle on one method.

Interviewing methods will also change depending on the type of people you have present. Your questions could be a whole lot different for someone who just graduated university than the ones you’d ask a seasoned industry veteran.

Come up with different questions that will be suitable for different situations that may arise during the interviews.

Play around with your interview locations too. Think of some new spots you could bring your prospects for interviews. Changing locations can really create a much more positive interview experience for both parties involved.

Time to Hire

The time has come to implement the new knowledge, hire some extra hands around the office and begin the onboarding program for new hires.

You might realize that there will be times when, even after following all the precautions, you hire someone who is not a great fit. Some less than ideal apples are bound to fall through the cracks.

Don’t be afraid to play around with your hiring process – nothing is carved in stone. See how you can make the hiring process work well for you and your potential employees.

Small Business Finance 101

Download our free guide to learn the fundamentals of finance that will help make your small business more efficient and successful.

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE