10 Tips to Hiring the Best Employees
In a survey of recent college seniors, when asked what they wanted in their jobs, said their top three, most important factors were: Opportunities for personal growth, job security, and a friendly work environment. Note: Salary was not in their top three.
Most respondents indicated they want to work for an organization that produces products or offers services that benefit others. They wanted to make a difference! Remember this when you are thinking of how to hire great employees.
A tip for how to hire great employees is to consider whether a person is the BEST candidate, or the RIGHT candidate, for your organization.
While the Best candidate may have great qualifications and the perfect resume, the Right candidate should have a balance of qualifications, plus interpersonal skills and the personality that's suited to the job and your culture.
So how do hire great employees and balance your goals and the desires of your candidates?
Building a great company requires following the best hiring practices in order to find the right people.
- Transform your organization into an Employer of Choice
- Use these tips for hiring employees to boost your recruitment efforts to attract the best people
- Learn how to hire great employees who are the best qualified, idealistic, right-fit candidates who strongly desire to make a difference.
Employers reaching Employer of Choice status will have candidates who are eager to work for you, and will stay longer. This is especially vital for companies who want to have their "pick of the liter" of college graduates. Use these tips for hiring employees because your organization needs to stand out over others who are seeking the same talent.
Positioning your company to be an Employer of Choice
Whether you are a small business or a large global business, getting to Employer of Choice status is not complex or overly difficult when you are understanding how to hire great employees. It does, however, require a significant management commitment, and a team to continually help the company reach its goal. You are bound to see success after using these tips for hiring employees.
Here's 10 Tips to Hiring the Best People:
1. Describe Your Company:
Use these tips for hiring employees and begin by describing your company using words that describe your culture, environment, values and philosophy. Describe what makes your company distinct. Don't use common buzzwords, like talented and dedicated. Instead use descriptive phrases such as; bold, ethical, trustworthy, industry leader, innovative, and an organization who is seeking candidates that can contribute to that innovation and help get things done.
2. Identify the type of candidates desired:
Identify the type of people you are looking for while using the other tips for hiring employees, such as: the best sales people, innovators, technical wizards, self-starters, or with specific experience in your target field, or idealists who want to change the world. You also want them to have integrity, be cheerful, positive, and easy to get along with - people you will trust, and enjoy having around. Once you really understand, and define the type of talent you want to attract, it will be easier to develop a strategy to become the employer of choice in their minds.
3. Create great job descriptions:
Write compelling job descriptions, and describe how each position will give the potential job candidate a sense of pride and purpose, with stimulating and interesting work, the freedom to innovate, opportunities for continued education and development, effective use of their talents, and describe a clear career path. For career paths in smaller companies, describe opportunities for employees to cross-train, develop new skills, and step up to higher responsibilities.
4. Create an attractive work environment:
Offer flexible work schedules, add a workout center (gym), a coffee or snack room. Having these facilities will allow employees to take short breaks, brainstorm, or blow off steam. Always look for opportunities to bring laughter and fun to the workplace. It could be as simple as bringing in a box of fresh doughnuts in the morning once a week, or having a pizza party once a month. Creating a happy workplace with a sense of community will help you attract and retain your best people.
5. Employee Recognition Programs:
Offer a comprehensive employee recognition plan that regularly rewards for length of service and performance when you hire great employees . You can create a culture of excellence by rewarding great performances. Include well designed contests that encourages employees to improve their personal performance, or to reach defined goals while using the other tips given for hiring employees. The effective use of multiple recognition programs helps employees feel valued and will increase their level of engagement. See these ideas for Employee Recognition
6. Enhanced Recruiting:
When recruiting, remember the best people need to be wooed. You may need to chase them down. Expand the channels you use to connect to candidates. A jobs page on your company's web site is a good start, but must go much farther if you want to attract the best people. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to get more traffic to your jobs page. Encourage and reward current employees who provide referrals. To always have a pool of potential candidates, build a email list of candidates who are "just looking", so you can make them aware of positions as they become available. A candidate who has turned down your offer months ago could become available and be a candidate again.
7. Avoid Hiring Mistakes:
While you are understanding how to hire great employees, remember that attitude is key. Look for qualified candidates who have integrity, are optimistic, cheerful, positive, and easy to get along with. You want to hire motivated people you will trust, and enjoy having around. To avoid hiring mistakes, always interview at least three or more people for each position, even if the first person seems ideal. Remember, you are looking for the "best", plus, hiring mistakes are very expensive, and could result in costs up to three times (or more) of their annual salary.
8. Have a well defined On-Boarding Strategy:
Keeping great employees begins on day one. Research shows that employees will decide within 10 days if they intend to stay with an organization, or will begin looking for a different job. On-boarding includes the process of welcoming and orienting new employees, plus introducing them to your culture, values and management appreciation. This process of assimilating new hires will often extend for up to one year, and can raise the employee retention rate by as much as 25 percent. see More about Onboarding
9. Offer Employee Mentoring:
Successful companies use mentoring as their top driver to increase engagement and improve retention rates. In fact, almost 70% of the Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring for their employees. Most mentor programs pair junior employees with more experienced staff for several months. Mentoring programs should be designed to help the new person feel valued and welcomed, while offering guidance, and sharing knowledge, insights and skills. Start using these tactics when you hire great employees.
10. Open Communications:
Keep employees engaged with open and frequent communications to help foster trust and respect for the managers and for awareness of the direction of the organization. Management should provide clear expectations, and encourage all employees to ask questions and to offer feedback and suggestions. Let employees know how much their efforts contribute to your organization's objectives, and think about this when you are figuring out how to hire great employees. Open Communications is closely linked to employee engagement and performance, and is critical to a company's success.
Successful companies know that recruiting, hiring, and keeping the right people can make a huge difference in your business. And all employers can benefit by taking these steps to create a clearer vision of the talent your organization needs, having a strategy to hire great employees, and a plan to keep them happy and engaged.
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