An effective hiring strategy can help you find job seekers with the right skills and background to strengthen your workforce. Whether you’re hiring your first employee or adding a new member to your existing team, it’s important to develop a hiring process that’s fast and effective.
In this article, Joe Scotto, HR leader, reviews how to hire employees, signs that it may be time to hire and tips to improve your hiring process.
At smaller companies, employees often take on many roles, frequently switching between tasks and working outside their job description to keep up with business growth. Even though this ability to work across departments is a sign of flexibility, resourcefulness and drive, it can also indicate that your employees need assistance.
Overextension can lead to burnout, low productivity and inefficiencies in your business. Knowing when to add staff to your team is important for keeping your business growing and maintaining high employee morale.
The following signs can indicate that it’s time to grow your team:
As you look into hiring new employees, consider whether they align with your company, its open position and your expectations. By assessing how they can add to your business, whether through specialized expertise or similarly shared values, you can recruit top candidates and find your next hire.
“A well-planned hiring process is invaluable in selecting the best candidates for your company. Taking time to follow these best practices can yield positive results for even an experienced hiring manager.”
—Joe Scotto, HR leader
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When hiring new employees, follow these steps to attract and hire the right candidates:
A carefully crafted job description can be a valuable hiring tool. Incorporating strong keywords, compensation information and accurate descriptions of the job’s responsibilities and duties can encourage job seekers to apply. Including details about company culture and benefits can help set your company apart from other opportunities candidates may be considering.
Review job descriptions for similar roles to determine what skills and experience also apply to your open position. Monitoring job trends can also help your hiring team identify industry-specific job titles, relevant keywords and salary information.
Consider posting your open position on online job boards, industry-specific platforms and your company website and social media channels to attract candidates. Local colleges and universities often have career centers where you can share your job postings to help you find recent graduates.
Consider running a recruiting event or attending a job fair to generate excitement about your company’s open opportunities. These events can help you reach more candidates and create organic leads to follow up on later.
To determine which applicants to interview, look for information on their resume that indicates their skills, motivations, experience and work style align with your business needs, including:
While not all candidates will be a perfect match, consider applicants with unique backgrounds or skill sets who might bring new ideas and perspectives to the team.
When interviewing candidates, consider starting with a quick 10- to 15-minute phone screening to determine whether they meet the basic qualifications and if your role aligns with their expectations.
Approaching the interview process with a list of industry- and role-specific interview questions can help interviewers make informed hiring decisions. Taking notes or using an interview scoring matrix can also make it easier to evaluate and compare candidates objectively.
Well-planned interviews will use both behavioral and situational questions. For example, behavioral questions can draw on past experiences to predict future behavior and assess whether the candidate would be a good addition to the team.
Some examples of behavioral interview questions include:
Situational questions typically demonstrate how a candidate thinks and may show how they respond in certain scenarios. Consider asking the following:
References can provide additional insights into a candidate’s experience and may help corroborate information listed on their resume. They can also help identify inconsistencies in a candidate’s work experience and qualifications, though they may not fully verify all details.
Consider requesting one to three references from your top candidates. While references are often prepared to give positive feedback, ensure your questions gather detailed insights into the applicant’s experience to obtain the most accurate information.
Consider asking the following questions during a reference check:
To help make a decision when selecting the right candidate, reflect on what you’ve learned about the different candidates’ skills, personalities and experiences from their resumes, interviews and references. Look for individuals who can help overcome challenges and contribute to your company’s goals.
Before sending an official offer, contact the candidate to schedule a phone call. During the call, express excitement about inviting them to join your team and present the terms of your offer, including salary, benefits, start date and other relevant information. If the candidate accepts your verbal offer, follow up with a formal letter outlining the key details of employment.
An important part of an effective hiring process is notifying candidates of a rejection promptly and respectfully. You can deliver the update by phone or email. Be honest and supportive, and consider offering constructive feedback to help them in their search elsewhere.
Understanding how to hire workers means realizing that the process continues after the job offer. Effective onboarding helps new employees feel welcome and supports their success in their positions.
Consider the following tips when creating a memorable onboarding process:
Learning how to hire the right candidates for your business is an ongoing task, and tracking your team’s progress can help you make adjustments in your hiring process. Indeed allows employers to generate performance reports from their employer dashboards to track the performance of their job postings.
Indeed’s Employer Guide helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.
