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Keys to Hiring Top Talent
August 24, 2009
By Michael Alter
Business owners and hiring managers are under more pressure than ever to bring only the best talent into their companies. One mistake could cost thousands of dollars and hurt your reputation with customers during a time when every good impression counts. These tips will help you make hiring decisions that pay off.
Most businesses these days must do more with less, and as a result, often face a shortage of time and resources necessary to make thorough hiring decisions. Unfortunately, this has led to more and more businesses bringing the wrong people into their organizations, costing some of them thousands of dollars.
A recent SurePayroll survey found that three out of four business owners admitted to making a hiring mistake, many which cost them more than $10,000. In response to these mistakes, employers felt more training might have solved their hiring problems. Yet training requires extra time and money, something many organizations today just can't afford to give away.
A better strategy is to avoid hiring mistakes in the first place. Business owners admitted the most common reason these hiring mistakes happen is a failure to accurately assess an employee or properly determine their background. Here are four simple and affordable tools business owners and hiring managers can use to ensure they continue to hire top talent.
• Background checks: A simple background check can be the difference between hiring an honest employee and a career criminal. Employers want to hire employees they can trust with their finances and company proprietary information. Nearly half of all job applicants submit resumes with false information. Most of the time a gut instinct will not be enough to detect the truth about a prospective employee. It is important to take the extra necessary steps to keep your business and its reputation out of harm's way.
• Drug screening tests: Toxicology research experts say 75 percent of illegal drug users are employed, and most work for small and medium-sized businesses. If your business relies on drivers, heavy equipment operators, physical laborers, or other positions that require alert, sober employees, drug screening is an absolute must. Employees are the frontline of operations for your business, and as such, they have great influence on the perception of your company and its reputation. Why risk your livelihood when a drug screening test can help avoid so many problems?
• Skills testing: Not only is it important to have trustworthy employees, but it is equally as important to know they can do the job you're hiring them to do. A skills test can tell a hiring manager exactly what an employee is capable of before they even come in for an interview. Many different skills tests are offered—including general aptitude tests and highly specialized tests for computer language proficiency and other technical skill-sets. Hiring employees who do not need additional training can help save time and money.
• Personality tests: Hiring employees that will mesh well with the rest of your company is extremely important. During the interview process, you may only have the opportunity to get to know one small part of a candidate's personality. Personality tests can uncover details about a person that you may not have time to find out during an interview—such as how they react when angry or under pressure. This can be a valuable resource for determining what type of people you actually hire.
While a personality test will allow you to learn a great deal about a person's emotional tendencies, it also is extremely important to make sure you assess them on your own. Will they fit in with all the nuances that make your organization unique?
So, before hiring the first employee who successfully passes all the tests listed above, consider these points:
• Make a checklist: Before even interviewing a job candidate, make a checklist of every single thing that could impact how the employee would fit in at the company and in their role. Do they seem sociable? Do they have a sense of humor? Are they a strong communicator? As you're interviewing and making your selection on an applicant, run through this checklist several times and make sure they get a plus next to most of your items. This can serve as a useful complement to a personality test.
• Get employees involved: As a hiring manager or business owner it is your job to have the final say in who gets an offer to work at your company, but don't forget that other employees at your organization are the ones who will be working with this person on a regular basis. If you introduced the candidates to others in the organization, it's a good idea to hold a short meeting to discuss the potential new hire. Find out what employees liked and disliked about each applicant. Engaging your employees during the hiring process will ultimately lead to a smoother transition when that person is hired.
• Expose the candidate to the work and the work environment: Give the candidate a realistic understanding of what the day-to-day work will be like. Don't just paint a pretty picture. It's best to be honest with candidates about what the job entails, including the high points and the low points. If you oversell the position, and don't give the candidate a realistic sense of what the job will be like, you may find that your candidate quits the position, simply because it didn't match up well with their expectations.
Michael Alter is the president of SurePayroll.
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