If you’re the owner of a small business with employees, chances are you’ve hired the wrong candidate at some point. It happens sometimes, even for owners who have a consistent process and lots of experience. According to one Robert Half survey, 81 percent of managers and small business owners said their companies had made a bad hiring.
Here are three steps you can take to learn more about your candidate and make sure you’re using the right approach to hiring the right candidate.
Emphasize company culture
When you’re hiring someone, you’re bringing them into an organization that already has a certain set of values, and those values create the background of the company culture. Finding someone who holds the same values is important—they’ll be more motivated, less likely to be dissatisfied, and more likely to come up with ideas that fit your culture.
Are you evaluating your candidates against the measuring stick of your company’s culture? You should be. Make sure that your culture is clearly defined and use it as your guidepost.
Involve more people
No one person is infallible. Why not bring more people in on the process? You don’t want to involve so many people that it leads to analysis paralysis, but input from multiple sources can be incredibly valuable when evaluating skills and culture fit. If it’s a small company, you might structure the interview process so that each team members spends a little time with the candidate and can provide feedback to the hiring manager.
Switch it up
Every candidate kind of knows what a job interview is. They walk into a small room, spend a few minutes answering your questions and (possibly) asking some of their own. Then they shake hands and go on their way hoping to get a call for a follow-up interview or an offer.
If you’re interviewing someone, switch it up. See how comfortable they are in a new environment. Sure he’s well-spoken in a small environment, but how does he handle having to meet a lot of new people in a group setting? How does she treat wait staff if you do an interview during a meal? Those things can give you a better view into how your candidate might fit with your company.
Need more help with hiring? Check out our blogs on interviewing and creating a consistent hiring process or contact us for more information about our services.
