HOW TO HIRE SOMEONE

Paul Wagenaar

“Hire integrity, enthusiasm, and passion; develop skill.” – Ty Howard

Recruiting and hiring someone for your team is one of the most difficult things that you can do.  For most small and even medium size companies, you likely will not have a dedicated HR person.  Just as a note, even having a dedicated HR person is no guarantee that you will find the right people if they don’t have a plan. 

What should your plan look like to improve the odds?

START WITH A SHOPPING LIST:

  • What are the attitudes that you want?

  • What are the behaviors that you want?
  • What are the skills that you want?
  • Then ask the same three questions of key people in your company who will be involved in what this individual will be doing?
  • If you do not have one already, write a job description based on what you want this person to do, including the input from yourself and your key people. If you don’t know how, start with a template from “google” and customize.
  • This list/job description will represent the statement: “If you could BUILD the perfect person for this position, this is what they would look like.

HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO PAY?

  • If you want someone with the equivalent skill of a CEO and you are paying an “entry level” salary, you already have a problem.
  • Use your personal network of business associates, INDEED.CA or LINKEDIN or another on-line hiring source to find what is a competitive wage for what you are looking for as a starting point.

CREATE A JOB ADVERTISEMENT:

  • Even if you have an existing one, I recommend reviewing and updating it
  • Google similar positions or look on-line with INDEED.CA or MONSTER.CA for ideas on how to “turbocharge” your advertisement, copy the best concepts from industry leaders to make your ad stand out.
  • Ask for references with a cover letter and resume.  References help to reduce the risk for you as a small or medium size company.  Many people tell me that references aren’t worth the time, because they will only say positive things about the person … this has NOT BEEN MY EXPERIENCE, the insights you can gain, particularly if you have a series of good reference questions are very helpful.  Certainly, some people will not tell you the truth, but most will.
  • Pay the money to sponsor the ad with an on-line provider.
  • Post the job internally, who may have one or more people who are looking for a better opportunity and you need to ensure that people can grow inside your organization.
  • Consider a “finder’s fee” if you can get someone who is already working for you to recommend or find a candidate and you hire them.
  • If you are a retail store, post the job so your customers can see it and apply.  I have had many customers either apply themselves or recommend someone who we subsequently hired.
  • If you have a social media presence, post the job advertisement for your followers to see.
  • Contact FREE job boards like your local YMCA job board to post your position.
  • Check the results DAILY, the job market is every competitive and applicants may have more than one opportunity.
  • If you are definitely not interested in someone, fill in the on-line “status” to say that you are not interested, usually there are at least 3 standard reasons, I have been out of work and I would always like to know.

WHO TO INTERVIEW?

  • Understand that you may not ever have the “perfect applicant” apply.
  • Of the skills, attitude, and behaviors you want,
  • Which are deal/no deal breakers?
  • For example, a person with Integrity, Enthusiasm, and Passion can be trained provided they have a basic level of skill.
  • What could you live with?
  • Depending on the job, where do they live?
  • A previous owner once told me not to worry about that because that was the associate’s problem and not mine if they lived too far away.  Unfortunately, that owner was wrong, if an “entry level” associate has more than an hour drive in the middle of January, they are not coming in and now the problem becomes my problem.
  • For small to medium size companies, ideal it would be nice to have all of your associates live within a 45-minute commute, trust me, it will save you a lot of absenteeism
  • I usually interview 5 people for each position as a start.  I can’t interview everyone, I would like to, but I will use the cover letter and resume to determine a good fit, I will also have my key associates also review the resumes with me.
  • I will read the first 5 resumes and then arrange them from “best fit” to “worst fit” on my desk.
  • Then I will read the 6th resume, if it is better then the first 5, then one gets bumped, if not then onto the 7th etc.  I read every resume and cover letter.
  • When finished then I arrange to interview.

INTERVIEWING”

  • Always have a second person interview with you.  I asked most of the pre-prepared questions that we tailored to the job and the second person would observe the applicant and ask a few questions at the end of the interview.
  • For small/medium size companies who do not hire many people, “google” standard interview questions and then, using your job description, add or delete questions to tailor the questions to find the skills you are looking for.
  • To protect yourself legally, try to avoid recording too many personal comments on your documentation.  I used “red/amber/green” to notate whether I liked the answer or not.
  • You can “drill down” on any specific question that requires clarity, but by asking the same questions of everyone, it will make a comparison easier.
  • I tried to interview all 5 in one day, 60 to 90 minutes apart.
  • We had a standard questionnaire for the applicant to complete prior to the interview which was used to see how they handled an unexpected situation (happens a lot in retail), what they had done to improve their skills in the last 2 years, why they wanted to work for us, there was a multiple choice question to subtly see whether they actually read the question, and we could see if we could read their writing and could follow direction.For office and service positions we also had a standard “word” and “excel” test to complete after the interview to show computer literacy.
  • A KEY QUESTION was at the end of the interview:  Did you have any questions for us?  We used that to see how engaged the applicant was.At the end of the interview the co-interviewer and I would discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the interviewee.

THE NEXT STEP:

  • End the interview by saying that you will get back to them as soon as you have an opportunity to check references.
  • If the person was really impressive, ask them to wait in the lobby and discuss with you co-interviewer, sometimes if the labour market is really tight and the person is excellent.  HIRE THEM NOW! DON’T WAIT because if they are good, you are not the only place they will have an interview.Sometimes, we have done a second interview just to be sure, particularly for senior or leadership roles. 

THE OFFER:

  • Contact the person, ask them if they would like the position.
  • Be prepared with the salary
  • Ask them to come in and do the paperwork with 48 hours, the sooner the better, because you want them to be committed as soon as possible.
  • Ask them to bring their banking information and be prepared to go through your hiring package
  • Tell them you will have their schedule for them and you will arrange a start date that works.
  • Contact the people who did not get the position, gauge their reactions, the good ones will tell you to keep them in mind if another position becomes available or if the person hired doesn’t work out, the bad ones will not take it well which reinforces your decision.
  • Update all of the on-line sources and tell them that you have hired a person as well as for the people who did not get the position

Hiring/On-boarding Package:

  • Have the hiring package prepped and ready to go
  • Have your “On-Boarding” package prepped and ready to go, they are not necessarily the same thing.

Just a couple of notes before ending:

  • Hiring someone is very risky, as a small/medium size company, you will be lucky to have an 80% success rate.
  • Start building up and selling your organizations “culture” and professionalism right from your first meeting.
  • Make sure everyone understands the importance of making the new associate feel welcome and of making them part of the team.
  • People change companies much more today than even ten years ago, after each time you go through this process, review what worked, what didn’t work, and make any changes for next time.