As a business owner, there are so many things to think about it’s easy to get overwhelmed. You need to have everything covered from your marketing tactics to legalities like professional indemnity insurance. You also need to know that when you’re expanding, you’re bringing the right person onto the team. Your business is only as good as your weakest team member, so you don’t want to bring someone onboard that isn’t going to add value to your company. But hiring the right person isn’t always as easy as it might seem. In this article we take a look at some top tips on helping you to hire the right person for your team.
Look at their skills and experience
The first thing you’re going to want to consider when it comes to hiring the right person for your team is how much experience they have in the field they will be working in. For example, if you’re looking to hire a marketing role and they’ve only ever worked in sales, it might not be such a great idea. You should take a look at what their interests have been going back and find out what skills they have that they can bring to the role. This can help see what a fit they are for your team.
Don’t write off someone with little experience in the field
Someone might have little experience or not the exact skills and qualifications you’re looking for, but don’t write them off yet. It can sometimes be a breath of fresh air to get completely new eyes on your company and the projects you’re working on. If people have always done the same thing and the same way, they won’t bring anything new to the table. By going a bit rogue and taking a risk, you might find they bring fresh ideas and motivation to the team, something that can end up propelling your company ahead of the game.
Consider the rest of your team
While you might have a fantastic potential employee in front of you, if they don’t gel well with the rest of the team, it’s not going to work out that great. You need someone that’s going to fit in with everyone else in order for everything to work cohesively. If you have a team that gels well, they’ll be more than happy to share the slack if someone is off sick and have better brainstorming sessions. Think about personalities, interests and how you think they’ll go. The more natural the connection, the easier the work will be for them all round.
Have them in for a trial day
While they might talk, there’s no saying how good someone will be at their job without seeing it in person. In order to get a better idea of whether they’re right for the role, have them come in for a trial day or a trial half day. By booking them in for this, you can get them to meet and speak to others in the team and see how well they bounce off one another. You can also get them to do some tasks that relate to the work they’ll be doing so you can see how well they do them and whether the skills they’ve told you about translate to what they can actually do.
Find out about their career progression goals
Another thing you want to find out about any potential new employee is what their career goals are. You need to find out if they’re looking to climb the career ladder or if they just want somewhere to get experience and move on somewhere else. By finding out what they want to achieve, you can see if that’s something you can offer and therefore it’s a good fit for them at your business. If you get the impression they’re looking for something different, it might not be the best company for them.
Ensure you get legitimate references
The references are another important part of any hire. You might love a person, but if they’ve suddenly left their last employment or they have only been at their jobs for a short while, you might want to find out why. Ensure the references you get are legitimate and check out the numbers – it could be they try to dupe you by giving the number of a friend which wouldn’t do you any good! Do your research and consider what you want to find out about them.
Find out why they want to work for you
The reasoning behind people working for you is a very important thing to find out. Question them about what it is about your company that attracted them to apply and what they’re looking to get from working for your company. If they’ve done the proper research and know about your business, this is a good sign they actually want to work for you in particular or that they put the effort in. When they have any questions, this is also a good time to communicate and see their thoughts on different matters and what might be a priority for them.
These are just a few things you need to think about when you’re hiring someone to make sure you get the right person for the team. It can be all too easy to just look at a CV and either write someone off completely or hire them based on what’s written, but a new hire is about so much more than that. You want someone that’s going to be a good team player, that will help others and that wants to progress with your company. Someone might have all the relevant skills but if they don’t care about the job and don’t work well within the team, it’s not going to work out long term. What are some top things you consider when looking to hire the right person for your team? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!
Leave a Comment