01/ 31/ 2008
by Maggie Flynn
Has this ever happened to you? In a stack of employment applications, you find the perfect resume, call the person in for the perfect interview and hire him on the spot. Then a week, month or even year later, it becomes apparent that he is not the right person for the job. As a small-business owner, the whole process of finding the right employee can seem like a gamble. But it doesn't have to be a blind luck of the draw. You can learn something from every bad fit you've ever hired. Here are some surefire ways to improve your hiring practices and increase your chances of finding the right person.
Always go through standard procedures. Sometimes job candidates seem so impressive in the interview, you fear that another employer will steal them out from under you, so you offer them a job then and there. Later, you may regret your decision and come to wish you had indeed let someone else steal this troublesome employee. No matter how much you like a person, always ask for references and follow through with phone calls. If a potential employee is unwilling to let you speak to past employers, this is a red flag. While it's understandable that an employee may have clashed with one or two bosses, if you see a negative pattern emerging when you speak to these people, you shouldn't assume they will act differently with you. While first impressions are important, they certainly need to be verified before you bring someone on.
Make sure they're the right fit for the job. You might have hired someone in the past because they had the universal qualities employers look for -- educated, ambitious, outgoing and so on. But what if the person you need to hire will work in the warehouse by themselves all day filling orders? A person who needs to interact with others and wants to take on different and challenging tasks would simply be the wrong fit for this job.
Think about the specific qualities that would be helpful for the person you hire to possess, and don't be swayed by positive attributes that wouldn't necessarily help them perform the job. In the interview, try to ask a series of non-leading questions that will help you figure out the person's preferences. For example, do you like to have a routine or do you get bored by one? Do you prefer work of a solo or collaborative nature? Stress that there is no right answer and that you are just trying to get a feel for their work style. Many people know how to give the right answer in interviews; however, it's your job to dig a little deeper and ensure that you are hiring the best fit for this particular job.
Consider all of your options. Have you ever been faced with a less than stellar pile of applications but felt that you had to choose someone simply because you needed to have a spot filled as soon as you could? While that employee may have worked out fine, your initial hunch also might have been correct and many headaches later you were asking yourself, "Why did I ever hire her?"
The lesson here is that you don't have to hire when you don't have good options. Look at the workload of your part-time employees and see if it's possible to shift things around and make someone full-time. If that's not an option, consider finding a temporary worker through an employment agency. That way you can keep advertising until you find the right person for the job and have someone keeping up with the work in the meantime. An added bonus to this approach is that sometimes the people you find through temporary agencies end up being such a good fit that you'll offer them the job permanently.
No matter how careful you are in your hiring practices, there is always an element of trial and error involved. But if you look at every hiring mistake as an opportunity to refine your employment strategies, you'll find yourself bringing a higher amount of winning matches on board, and the process will no longer seem quite so chancy.
