Since you now know how you shouldn’t start your hiring process, how do you do it correctly? Hiring a great employee deserves a coherent plan like any other aspect of business. After all, good employees will be with your company longer than most of your business endeavors. You absolutely have to correctly define the role for which you’re hiring if you hope to get the right person for your company.
Where are you trying to go?
It’s much easier to get where you want to go if you have some idea where “there” is. Don’t start at the beginning and try to piece together an ideal employee, instead, start in the future. What do you want your new hire to accomplish in their first year? In their first ninety days? Start there and work back until you can pinpoint what type of person you need.
A collaborative process
Get “down in the trenches” and consult the people who will work with your new hire on a daily basis, especially their future direct superior. Find out what qualities they seek in a coworker. And determine what skills are really required for your new hire to attain success.
Build your map, and follow it
With the new information you now have, make a written sketch of what an ideal hire will look like. Only after you’ve considered what a successful hire would do should you craft a job description and start looking for candidates. That way, you’ll know when you’ve found the right person.
You can’t see the future, but you can have a good idea
It’s impossible to know exactly what you’ll want/need a year from now, so realize that planning from the future is imperfect. That being said, you have a much better shot at a great hire if you have an idea of what the right hire will entail. Get started on the right foot and you’ll recruit the talent that will get you where you want to go.
Image used under Creative Commons from calsidyrose.
