Running a business is hard, but don’t make the mistakes that many make: seeing the company as a cold, impersonal entity, rather than a group of people. No matter how good your business concept or how amazing your branding and marketing may be, it all means nothing if you don’t have the right employees.
Your staff members are what make the business. They’re the brain of the organisation; the cogs that keep it turning. If your want to make your company successful, you need to make sure you have the right people working under its umbrella, which is why the hiring process shouldn’t be approached half-heartedly.
Of course, this is all easier said than done. When you have two dozen potential candidates or more, the question of which one is the right person for the job becomes ever harder to answer. It’s all too easy to overlook the best option. Still, there are ways to conduct the interviewing process well and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Finding the best of the best
The first task is finding the best talent. Rather than ending up with a hundred CVs, which might contain ninety irrelevant candidates, your business should think about ways to target a select few people, of which they can be sure that at least one or two are real possibilities when it comes to a good fit for your business. That way, you’ll be able to focus on the candidates who really deserve an opportunity in a position at your business, rather than expending your energy on worthless candidates and entirely missing a good application.
Whilst there are job fair opportunities at universities, through which you might find potential candidates, you could also reach future employees far and wide through a recruitment company. The point is that potential employees are out there, but sometimes they might struggle to find you; or, they might be buried within a sea of unworthy candidates. The best way to find the top talent in the country is to be a little proactive as a business and seek out that talent.
List exactly what you want in the job description
Using keywords, or looking for keywords in an application, is another great way to find candidates who might be right for a job within your business. Vague job descriptions might invite a broad range of candidates. If your company knows exactly what it’s looking for, then make that clear in any job listings you post.
Focus on ability, rather than experience. You want candidates with the potential to grow and use their intelligence, creativity or common sense to really add to the company. Experience means nothing if the person hasn’t got any charisma or drive. It shouldn’t be the deciding factor, though it can be helpful in some cases.
Test them in the interview
Whilst an interview is always a test, often employers create the wrong kind of test for their potential future employees. If you really want to know whether somebody will be the perfect fit for your job role, give them a test which is well-suited to what they’ll be doing in your company. That’s the most clear-cut, straightforward way to find out whether an employee will sink or swim when left to their own devices within your corporation. Anybody can plan and write a good application, but initiative isn’t something you can fake in person.
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