So your business is stable and or growing and you’re now in a position where you want to hire someone to assist you in getting to the next level. There are a number of questions you should answer prior to beginning the search for the “right individual”:
- Can the business afford an additional expense right now?
- What will the pay rate be?
- Will this be a long or short term need?
- Exactly what will this individual do?
- Can existing staff perform the additional work with or without overtime?
As you can see the questions are limitless and the decision is not one to be taken lightly because an incorrect decision or hire may result in a company set-back financially, impact other workers and or disrupt a homogeneous office culture; just think, we have not mentioned the impact of employee benefits on the hire decision.
Clearly, the hiring decision is one in which due diligence dictates going the extra mile, not to mention the wrong hire can impede the businesses growth. Just think, we have not mentioned the impact of employee benefits on the hire decision.
You’ve answered the questions affirmatively and are ready to proceed. At this point you should be aware of and resolved Human Resources considerations and how this individual will be managed and or supervised to ensure adherence to applicable laws to forestall issues going forward.
This is the tricky part of the hiring process. When seeking the right individual, frequently, the focus is on task when it should be on the results you want achieved. There is a big difference. Here’s a little taste of the difference: You want to hire a receptionist to answer phones, do a little copying, faxing, filing and data entry. I’m sure you’d agree these are not difficult task. However, suppose the individual hired, sends faxes to the wrong recipients, fails to correctly transfer calls and or take messages as well as when entering data has a 25% error rate? Resumes only tell one part of the story. Assessments, reference and background checks will provide a more complete picture as will the long term goals of the candidate.
In today’s multi-generational workforce skills and experience account for quite a bit. However, it’s critical for workers to fit the organizations culture for absent this critical “attitudinal” component 30 days down the road, you could have a “bad hire” on your hands.
A new hire will be a wasted investment unless that person produces results. Developing, clarifying with the candidate and utilizing a job description then determining the results against the plan will result in clearer communications, no surprises and ultimately a “hiring process” that works for all concerned and delivers the anticipated results.
So you see the secret is “plan, communicate and measure”. In using this formula, Metrics frequently are the missing items in hire decisions and this absence can lead to misunderstandings, incorrect expectations, frustrations and ultimately “bad hire decisions”. Remember, inspect what you expect then measure for results.
