Are You crazy to think you can hire a great employee?

Am I crazy to think I can hire great employeesYou may ask yourself this question when you need to hire team members for your business, especially if you think it will be impossible to find the right person. Learning the art and science of how to hire a great employee will keep you from taking a ride on the crazy train. And more importantly, you can avoid the pain and suffering caused by hiring the wrong employee.

Well, I have good news! Most of you are quite sane and you can let the crazy train pass you by.

The labor market is tight right now. Based on the latest economic indicators, unemployment is at 3.9%. What this means is most of the people you need to hire are already working. Your job is to convince great candidates that you offer them more opportunity and a better work environment. That’s how you hire a great employee!

Here are a few easy ways to hire a great employee and stay off the crazy train:

1. Share Your Vision, Mission, and Values.

The best, most engaged employees want to know where your business is headed and how their work will contribute to getting there. Set goals and objectives for them within the context of that big picture view. When you show the connection between the purpose, impact, and importance of their work, your employees bring their energy and passion to their jobs.

2. Offer Flexibility and Work-Life Balance.

Instead of staying locked in traditional models of work, allow your employees the flexibility to do things differently. Today’s workforce values freedom to enjoy personal time and work-life balance is important to them. Consider making meeting the deadlines with exceptional work the barometer of performance, rather than hourly accountability.

3. Offer Growth and Development.

Continuous learning and career development are important factors for employees. They want to know what they will learn and when the opportunity to learn will take place. Make sure to have frequent performance conversations with your team and let them know what their career path looks like.

4. Give Plenty of Recognition and Rewards.

Pay reasonable salaries and, if possible, create a bonus structure for outstanding performance. Consider smaller things like gift cards for a job well done, or even a regular thank you, which go a long way towards attracting and retaining workers.

5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.

Today’s workers resist being treated like cogs in a wheel. Create an environment that values open communication with multiple communication channels including online team portals, mobile apps, or Skype in addition to face-to-face meetings.

6. Use Your Size as an Advantage.

Being small is an advantage most organizations don’t leverage. Resist getting stuck in the “we can’t because we don’t have money for high salaries, generous benefit plans, or [insert other cool perks here].” Instead, focus on what you can offer and use that to attract great candidates.

7. Build Relationships.

In a tough labor market taking time to build relationships with candidates is essential. Small things like responding to emails, answering questions, and giving job seekers tips and feedback that makes interviewing easier for them helps solidify relationships. Later, these candidates can be your future candidate pipeline. They are also a networking source for future referrals because they received something of value and were treated well.

8. Use the Right Tools.

Choosing the right tools is essential. You want to choose tools that are appropriate for your needs and help you find your ideal candidates. While technology and social channels can be effective for quickly finding and hiring eligible candidates, the old-fashioned word-of-mouth method can be just as effective. You may also need a recruiter. Recruiters can save you time and money when weighed against the time and effort that may be put on the shoulders of HR managers, who are not expert recruiters and have other demands on their time.

9. Be Honest.

Provide your candidates with a realistic picture of what the job entails and what it’s like working at your company. Resist the temptation to omit or gloss over the less attractive parts of the job. Be honest and straightforward.  Don’t keep them in the dark. Share results, both successes and failures.

10. Don’t Hire Fast to Relieve Pain.

Most of us have rushed through the recruiting process to fill a critical role and lighten the load. This can result in a bad hire causing more pain when you must deal with a Lazy Larry or Debbie Diva. Resist the temptation get a quick fix—it’s better to be understaffed than to have a bad employee who will cost you time and money, and create problems with productivity, turnover, training costs, and retention of good performers.

Keep Your Sanity.

If you still have some work to do to attract the right candidates, no worries. The important thing is you are ready to learn. Click this link to schedule a complimentary Insight session. It’s an investment of 20 minutes of focused coaching that will pay huge dividends.

You may also want to grab a copy of The YOLO Principle: The Ultimate Hiring Guide for Small Business, available on Amazon. It’s a handy resource packed with tools, templates, and step-by-step instructions.