HIRING

Hiring (Advertising, Screening and Selecting)

1. Advertise the position
Post ads in classified sections of local major and neighborhood newspapers. In the ads, include the job title, general responsibilities, minimum skills and/or education required, whom they should send a resume to if they are interested and by when. Consider having a closing date after which you won't accept resumes. Mention the role to customers. Send cover letters and job descriptions to professional organizations. Be sure to mention the role to all employees to see if they have any favorite candidates.

2. Current employees should be able to apply for the job.
Considerations in hiring them for the new role will have to include the impact on the organization if the employee leaves behind a critical and unfilled role in the organization. Some organizations may elect to give internal candidates the first shot at the job.

3. Screen resumes
When screening resumes, note the candidate's career objective -- or the lack of it. If not specified, the candidate may not have considered what they want to do in the future, which may impact their commitment to your new role. Note if they stayed at jobs long or left quickly. Are there holes in their work history? Note their education and training. Is it appropriate for the new role? Consider what capabilities and skills might be evidenced in their past and current work activities. If you have lots of resumes, it helps greatly to enter in a word processor, the "highlights" and "concerns" information about each candidate; otherwise, after about 10 resumes, they all look the same. Having information online helps you keep perspective and you can go back later and have a strong overview of the candidates. Consider routing resumes past key employees to collect their rankings. Interview all candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. (At this point, be sure that you're not excluding candidates because of unfair biases.)

4. Interview candidates
Send the job description to candidates before they come to the interview meeting. While interviewing candidates, always apply the same questions to all candidates to ensure fairness. All questions should be in regard to performing the duties of the job. Ask about their compensation needs and expected or needed benefits. Attempt to ask open-ended questions, i.e., avoid "yes-no" questions. Talk for at most 25% of the time -- for the rest, listen. Don't rely on your memory -- ask permission from the interviewee to take notes. Find out when they can start if offered the job. Consider having multiple people at the interview; although this can be intimidating to the interviewee, this practice can ensure them a much more objective and fair presentation. Have the same interviewers in all of the interviews if possible. Consider asking some challenging, open-ended questions, such as "What skills do you bring to this job?", "What concerns do you have about filling this role?", "What was your biggest challenge in a past job and how did you meet it?" Don't ask questions about race, nationality, age, gender, disabilities (current or previous), marital status, spouses, children and their care, criminal records or credit records. Have all interviewers share/record their impressions of the candidate soon after the interview meeting. Explain to the candidate that you'll be getting back to them soon, and always do this. Ask if you can get and check any references. Always check references and share them with the interviewers. Be sure to tell candidates of any relevant personnel policies terms, such as probationary periods. (The best way to deal with a poor performer is not to hire him or her in the first place. It is often wise to have a probationary period of, e.g., six months, wherein if the employee does not meet the responsibilities of the position, you can terminate the employee.) If practical, look into the applicant's background to ascertain if they have a criminal record.

5. Select the candidate
Usually, this is not as easy as one would like because two or three candidates come in close. Have a highly focused meeting with all interviewers. Have each suggest their favorite candidate. If there is disagreement, focus discussion to identify the one or two areas in which interviewers disagree about the candidates. Then have each interviewer explain their impressions. At this point, interviewers usually come to consensus and agree on one candidate.

6. If there does not seem to be suitable candidate
Consider if the job requirements are too stringent or are an odd mix. For example, you might not find someone who's highly interested in a certain technical skill or service and who also shows strong interest in general skills. Reconfigure the job so that required skills and training are somewhat similar and the role becomes more standard. Or, consider hiring the candidate who came in closest and plan for dedicated training to bring their skills to the needed levels. Or, re-advertise the position. Consider getting advice from a human resources professional (at this point, your need for them is quite specific, so they might provide services on a pro bono basis). Or, consider hiring a consultant on a short-term basis, but only as a last resort as this may be quite expensive.

7. If everyone turns down the job
The best strategy is to ask the candidates why they turned the job down. Usually, you'll hear the same concerns, e.g., the pay is too low or the benefits incomplete, the organization seems confused about what it wants from the role, the interview process seemed hostile or contentious, etc. Reconvene the interviewers and consider what you heard from the candidates. Recognize what went wrong and correct the problem. Call back your favorite candidates, admit the mistake and what you did, and why you'd like to make an offer to them again.

8. Offer letter
If they accept an offer, always follow-up with an offer letter, specifying the compensation, benefits, and starting date and reference an attached job description. Ask them to sign a copy of the offer letter and return it to you.

9. Start a personnel file
Include in the file, the signed offer letter, tax withholding forms, the job description and any benefits forms