With speedy and drastic changes in technological developments, in the market’s expectations and in the characteristics of new generations of workers, hiring managers and recruiters are having to get more and more innovative, flexible and open-minded in adopting new methods and resources to discover that perfect candidate for the job and create sustainable team cultures.
There are many disruptive technologies currently being used. That includes algorithm integration, artificial intelligence, social media and big data as well as a wide variety of aptitude tests to measure different skills and attributes with a high level of objectivity.
Recruitment, though, needs a personable approach and a good amount of knowledge regarding psychology from the hiring team, to help find the best fit for any business or organization.
First, however, let’s see if it’s time for you to hire new employees.
When to Hire New Employees
Over 42 percent of business owners polled claimed that hiring was one of their biggest challenges. Without adequate manpower, it will be nearly impossible to make your business a success.
While most business owners take on the bulk of the work involved in running their company, getting help is essential.
Trying to take on too much will usually lead to big mistakes being made. The last thing you want is for your level of customer service to suffer as a result of being short-staffed.
If the thought of interviewing and vetting potential hires doesn’t seem appealing, working with companies who provide professional staffing solutions is a great idea.
A staffing company will a large pool of talent to pull from, which means you can get the extra help you need in no time.
Here are some of the signs you may notice when it is time to hire new employees.
1. You Are Working Far Too Many Hours
While you will have to burn the midnight oil in order to make a business successful, there are limitations to how much you can work.
If you are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, now is the time to start thinking about getting more employees.
Running yourself into the ground will only lead to problems. By lightening the existing workload you have, it will be easier to focus on growing your business.
The cost of hiring new employees will be worth it considering the heightened levels of productivity you can enjoy.
2. Focus on Growth Not Survival
If your main goal as a business owner is to survive one more month, you need to rethink how you are running your company.
When business owners get focused on performing day to day operations rather than building their company, it can result in failure.
Having time to grow and expand your customer base is only possible when delegating responsibilities to new workers. The only way to make time to do sales calls is by hiring new employees to help you out.
3. Work Quality is Beginning to Decline
When a business owner is overwhelmed due to a lack of help, it can lead to the quality of their work declining rapidly. If the level of customer service you provide declines, it is only a matter of time before you start losing money.
Rather than procrastinating, you need to hire new employees immediately. Not only will this help you serve your customers better, it can grow your bottom line as well.
4. Expanding the Services or Products Your Business Offers
Are you trying to offer more products or services to your customers? Having a few extra hands on deck can make this transition much easier.
Trying to make your existing employees work twice as hard during new product or service launches can be problematic. Instead of pulling employees off of jobs they are already performing, you need a higher degree of manpower.
Now, let’s talk about finding the best employees.
How to Choose The Right Candidate for The Job
Understand your current team
The search for a new team member will be impossible without a thorough understanding of the current team dynamic, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
One useful starting point is to gain some clarity with regards to the different personalities and professional identities within an organization using the Belbin Team Roles Test, or the Myers-Briggs 16 Personalities Test.
Once this has been determined, an overall picture of who your colleagues or employees are, will be revealed. You will figure out what your team excels at and where there is room for improvement.
For instance, if your company consists of a majority of highly logical thinkers and technological experts, having some charismatic communicators with strong people skills would certainly enhance the growth of the business; or vice versa.
Following this, any gap can be identified for you to take the next step.
Map out your hiring strategy
Now that you have recognized what might be missing from your human resources and the type of talents to drive your business forward, it is time to come up with a hiring strategy and a plan for execution.
Depending on who you are looking to hire, it is worth doing some research on their demographics and psychographics, to build hypothetical persona profiles.
This helps visualize a vivid picture of this person or group of people and where they can be found. That will lead to better-written job descriptions, more suitable choices of technologies or methods of pre-employment assessments used as well as efficient interview questions.
Making these conscious hiring decisions will not only save the business monetary investment, time and effort, but will also guarantee a higher chance of long-term success and career fulfillment for everyone else in the team.
Filter the pool of applications
Your job listings have been published, the next challenge is to find ‘the one’, or the few.
Whatever your hiring team has required applicants to submit initially, be it a resume (CV), a cover letter or an online application with specific questions relevant to the roles; it is best to reduce automation as much as possible, at every stage, to avoid missing out on great potential candidates.
CV reading softwares are great inventions. But not every talented person are experts at writing a ‘flawless’ CV according to these softwares’ standard. Not to mention other file formatting issues that should not define any candidate’s suitability.
Some better technological alternatives to this would be signing up to new disruptive job sites or smartphone applications like Picked.ai, Otta.com or Digital Profile. All of these use artificial intelligence to increase accuracy and adaptability in matching the first big round of candidates to your business.
Finally, there is no better way to explore how much of a good fit one is, other than to actually take the time and connect with them in person or at least face-to-face via a video interview.
Human cognitive ability, emotional intelligence and personality traits are often unquantifiable. So where possible, putting in the effort to respond to all applications and to meet people with an open mind, will not only lead you to the right candidates quicker, but will also create a more positive company culture and brand image.
… And also, trust your instinct!