NFIB

Time to Start Recruiting
03/ 28/ 2002


Spring is prime time for recruiting employees. Whether you are a company seeking permanent employees with a high school diploma, professional employees with college degrees or part-time summer interns, the competition is about to begin. As the tight labor market continues, it is prudent to get recruiting plans finalized and ready to go when you are ready to begin interviewing. For many applicants, the Spring Break or Easter holiday is the starting line for the summer job race. In today's Workshop, Edith Helmich discusses recruiting new employees.

Assuming that you know the number of employees needed, the job requirements, and the salary/offers that will be made, the first question is how to attract the most desirable candidates to your interviews. The second question is how to hire the right employee for your company.

Some sources of possible new employees are:

* Recommendations by friends and business acquaintances.

* Employee recommendations.

* Employment fairs.

* Employment agencies.

* Placement bureaus of high schools, business schools and colleges.

* Help-wanted ads in local and area newspapers.

* Trade and industrial associations.

* Notices in professional journals and magazines.

* Bulletin boards and flyers.

The number and scarcity of employees needed by your company will control the amount of time and money spent on recruitment efforts. However, there are some recruitment procedures that should not be neglected or omitted, regardless of the number of employees involved.

Before hiring an employee, all businesses should:

* Screen all applications and referrals to remove unsuitable applicants.

* Conduct a personal interview before hiring an employee.

* Prepare an outline of written questions to ask during the interview.

* Provide an accurate description of the position.

* Check past employment references before hiring a new employee.

* Verify information (training, memberships, honors, degrees, etc.).

* If relevant, run a criminal background check.

No matter how desperately you need new employees, a bad apple can cause more problems than being short-staffed. Also keep in mind that people make mistakes and a past transgression may not be predictive of future behavior. More important, however, is the candidate's candor and truthfulness during the interview. In general, lying removes an applicant from the running.

A final caution is to avoid hiring relatives -- your own, a customer's or an employee's. If the applicant does not succeed, you may lose a customer, a friend or create a family problem, in addition to losing an employee.

Keep these thought in mind as your first recruitment campaign for the twenty-first century begins. Time is ticking away, and those new employees are out there waiting for job offers.

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