Are your hiring processes up to par?If you haven’t been happy with the way your company finds, screens and retains new employees, try these 5 low-cost ways to ensure that you’re getting the right people.
1. Shorten Your Hiring Cycle
Studies have shown that, for certain jobs (such as those in sales and customer service), the longer your hiring cycle, the lower your chances of snagging the best people for the job. This doesn’t mean you should rush through your hiring processes, of course, but if you have unnecessary lag time, it’s a good idea to identify and eliminate it.
2. Pick Background Screening Packages That Make Sense
It doesn’t make sense for you to background screen every position the exact same way. If you’re currently performing the same checks on every new person that walks through the door, you’re spending money needlessly. (FYI – Click here for a fast way to determine what kind of background screening each employee needs.)
3. Teach Your Managers How to Interview
Can this be stressed enough? It’s critical that everyone in your company understand the most efficient ways to determine if a job candidate is worth pursuing. In fact, you may even want to hold a class on how to read a resume (or CV). Don’t assume that managers have these skills already; many of them have never had any education in this area.
4. Ask Current Employees about Their Hiring Experience with Your Company
Check around and see how current employees felt about the way they were hired by your organization. Did they feel it was professionally handled? Were they bothered by any aspect of it? What would they suggest changing? (You may want to position this as an anonymous questionnaire to elicit genuine responses.)
5. Put a System (or Systems) into Place
If you don’t have a hiring system in place, it’s time to start. Your hiring system doesn’t have to be complicated, either. It’s just a step-by-step explanation of how you go about getting from the “we’re looking for a person” phase to the “welcome aboard” phase.
