5 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Your Next Hire

Unless recruiting and hiring is your forte, it can be a painful process.

A successful hire results in a highly qualified employee who suits the role and your company culture…and hopefully sticks around for the long term. But finding that perfect candidate can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. (Or, in this market, a truckful of haystacks!)

Knowing how to hire great employees doesn’t always come naturally. Many business leaders face a steep learning curve when hiring. Given the extraordinarily tight market we are in, even experienced hiring managers are learning that the rules have changed.

To shorten that learning curve, make the process a little less painful for you, and help you recruit top candidates, we’ve put together a list of things you should know before starting your next hire. Read on to learn these hiring best practices.

1. Know the Position and the Target Candidate

Have a clear goal in mind for the exact position you wish to fill. Ensure all company stakeholders are in agreement on the role itself as well as the qualifications needed to fill the role. As you sort out the role and the prospective candidate profile, think about the key functions of the position, what skills the new employee should have, and what behaviors, experience, or education is most related to successfully filling the position. 

Once you have agreement on the position and your targeted candidate profile, it’s time to write a recruitment ad. Our advice is to write a job ad that  is clear, concise, and to the point, while describing your company and what you’re looking for, including qualifications, responsibilities, and expectations.

It’s important to note that a help wanted ad should describe both the position AND why a prospective employee should be interested in your company. Include a summary of your company culture or core values, as well as how those values are infused into the day-to-day life of your company. 

2. Know Your Competition 

Research market hiring conditions before you post your job opening so you have an idea of what to expect. Review similar job ads to see how other companies are advertising for similar positions. Pay attention to the job titles other companies use, what functions they include in their descriptions, and the techniques they use to attract candidates to the role. 

This market research will give you a sense of how competitive your area is for the position you seek to fill.

As you research your position, make sure there are other similarly-titled jobs listed. The job title you use is important and can make or break resume traffic. 

For example, “Director of First Impressions” is a fun way to describe a receptionist position, but it makes it difficult for a job seeker to find your ad. It’s ideal to list your posting with a common job title that’s similar to other posts for the same position. It’s really difficult to recruit for a unicorn job as candidates can’t find the posting!

3. Know the Compensation

As you research your competition, take a look at salary information. Indeed.com is a likely place to look as many companies post pay information in their job openings. You can also pull up salary information for a position by searching for the job title on Google (i.e., “receptionist salary, Minneapolis”). 

Doing this legwork before you hire will give you a good idea of what a competitive salary looks like for that position. It’s important to know if the salary you’re offering aligns with the market rate.

As you review resources like salary surveys, keep in mind that the data on many salary surveys can be 12-24 months old, representing what current employees are making, not what it will cost for you to recruit a new employee to your company. 

Many job seekers look for raises in the range of 10-20% to make a move.

The current hiring market has put pressure on hiring companies to increase pay to get qualified candidates in the door, which can result in budgeting surprises and internal equity complications. If you are firm on a certain rate of pay that is below the market rate, know that it will take longer than expected to find that perfect candidate. Another option is to change your position to a job title and job duties with lower compensation expectations.

4. Know You Will Need To Move Fast  

In this job market, it’s “move it or lose it.”

If you don’t move quickly through the hiring process, there’s a good chance you’ll lose top talent to the competition.

This means making sure you have a point person on your team ready to receive resumes and call candidates immediately to set up interviews. It also means you need to have hiring managers on board to interview candidates at a moment's notice and to follow up with them in a timely manner.

In addition, don’t delay in making hiring decisions. Deliberating on whether to hire someone or not may well result in the candidate accepting another position. Particularly for hourly or non-exempt positions, more and more of our clients are extending an offer of employment in the first interview as a way to secure new hires.

Many companies are experiencing candidate no-shows. Our best recommendation to increase your number of completed interviews is to schedule interviews within a day or two of initial contact, confirming interview specifics with candidates via text, email, and phone. Those messages should confirm:

• When the meeting is taking place,

• Where the interview is happening, and

• Who will be conducting the interview

5. Know That Patience, a Sense of Humor, and Creativity Are Your Friends

No matter how fast you move, there’s no way around it: this process is going to take a while. This ultra-crazy job market means that the time-to-hire is often longer than you’d expect.

And it won’t always go your way, even if you do your research, write a top-notch job posting, and offer a great salary and benefits package. 

You will have great candidates ghost you. 

You will think you have the perfect candidate coming in for an interview…only to find out they just don’t have what you’re looking for.

You may even lose some candidates to the competition.

But keep your head up. It’s worth going through it all to find the right employee to fill your position.

If you don’t find the right candidate from your first pool of applications, it might be time to revisit your job posting. Try changing things up: tweak the job title, increase the pay or add benefits, or try posting to a different job board.  

A little more effort on the front end will save you the wasted time and headaches that come with hiring the wrong person. 

Not Getting the Job Done on Your Own? Red Seat Is Here To Assist

Whether you’re looking to get some ideas or strategize about a position before starting your next hire, or you want to find out how our Retained search or Fractional recruiting services can get the job done, give us a call! We look forward to helping you recruit top candidates and find your next great employee.

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