I once interviewed a young woman outside of our office at a restaurant for a customer service position because I was replacing a current employee who was not working out and I didn‘t want her to see candidates coming in the front door.
When we met, her personality lit up the room and her energy and enthusiasm were contagious. It was one of the few times I’ve ever hired someone on the spot. She ended up being one of my best hires ever and earned many promotions over the years.
Alternatively, I interviewed a shy, introverted man who was anything but dynamic and didn’t light up the room with his personality. Unsure, I hired him after a few interviews because I needed the position filled and ended up being another one of my best hires.
Two hires, two wildly different expectations, but similar great results. How confusing!
Hiring is difficult and frustrating as well as time-consuming; an art as much as a science. Let’s face it, most small companies don’t have an HR department and resources to do all their hiring and firing.
There are several techniques you can use to maximize your chances of finding great employees. But even using the best techniques, and I’ve used them all, there is no fool-proof system and no perfect employee.
Let me show you what I’ve seen and tried inside small businesses to help you improve your chances of finding great employees through some changes in mindset and new strategies.
Don’t always hire people you like:
Match the personality to the position. Some positions don’t need a big outgoing personality and understanding that is important. Divorce yourself from the thought that everyone must be like you. At times, you may not even need to like them!
Don’t over-scrutinize the resume:
Right after sticking needles in my eyes, reading resumes is my favorite thing to do! It’s beyond boring and extremely time-consuming.
Academics put too much emphasis on resume writing and the strength of the resume objective. I’m probably swimming against the steam on this one, but I’ve never hired someone because of a great cover letter or resume objective. Seeing and talking to people in person is my secret sauce
I’ve seen many managers throw resume after resume out because they’re looking for candidates who have done the EXACT job before in the EXACT same industry. I’ve also seen them thrown out for a misspelled word for an entry-level warehouse position.
So many great candidates are missed with resumes thrown in the trash for trivial reasons (at least in my mind). I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had great hires with little experience in my industry and misspelled words on the resume.
A few general rules of thumb I look for are:
- Length of employment
- Consistency of position
If the candidate has had 5 different jobs in the last 5 years, what are the chances they’re going to be sticking with you for a long time?
Secondly, look to see if the different jobs they’ve shown a similar skill set, a dedication or love of a particular type of work.
For example, the owner of a wholesale distributor of commercial door hardware, for her inside counter sales department, started hiring retail clothing store employees! She had great success with them because they were comfortable working on full commission and loved to sell. They knew how to follow-up on quotes and close the deal. She found retail employees were often elated to earn a higher wage in a more stable B2B wholesale environment.
Interview as many candidates as possible:
Learn to do this quickly but understand what I’m saying. If you find a good candidate, interviewing them for as long as you need to, but not at first.
The biggest mistake companies make is hiring too quickly because they HATE interviewing. It sucks time and energy out of their day and it’s not fun. They need to fill the position, really don’t know what they’re doing or don’t want to do the interviewing, so they hire the first person who walks in.
Interview quickly and space your interviews by 30 minutes. Pre-empt the interview by saying, “I have just a few minutes today as we have a lot of people coming in, so let’s see if we have a good fit.”
That way, if you quickly realize they’re not going to be selected, you have not committed yourself to spending a lot of time and they’re not surprised at the short interview time. If you like them and have run out of time, have them come back or have someone else interview them while you interview the next candidate.
Interviewing in short increments allows you to maximize the number of candidates you can see and often rewarded by having one or two great candidates come in.
Let them talk, not you:
Briefly explain what your company does and the position (They should have already looked up your website and read the job posting!). We all fall into the habit of talking about ourselves, our great company and a long description of the position and its unique intricacies. STOP TALKING!
I’ve seen interviewers spend an hour explaining the company and position in excruciating detail, then ask a few questions of the candidate and then end the interview.
Remember that you’re trying to learn about them. You’ll have plenty of time later to cover ALL those details AFTER you’ve determined if they’re a good fit for your company.
Have THEM do most of the talking. Vary your questions to determine what their interests are and what they’re passionate about outside of work. What are they most proud of? What motivates them?
Another important area to explore is why they left their prior jobs. Everyone has a story, and it’s never their fault (LOL), but important to hear their explanations. If they consistently left because of conflicts with management, they’re probably going to have a conflict with you.
Hopefully, you’ll find some candidates to have back for one or two more interviews. I’ve been surprised in the past how a candidate that I loved on the first interview, just didn’t measure up the second one. On the other hand, my confidence in the potential hire soars when they come back the second time and impress me again.
Even when on you’re on your best game, finding good employees is usually a 50/50 proposition, but you can greatly increase your odds by following these simple steps. Here’s my video version of this article.
Stop losing your best employees to your competitors and download my free Staff Survey Checklist and Development Guide to harness the power of your employees. It is just one piece of my Simple Steps Roadmap I use with my clients. Book a free 30-minute call with me to see if I can help you move from overwhelmed and spinning your wheels to working with focus and intent.
Often times, embracing that your company or department is broken is the essential step to revitalizing it. Progress starts with a vision. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re never going to get there. Is it worth a FREE 30-minute call to discuss?