The process of hiring employees can be rather daunting to business owners, particularly when the business is a small scale while it is still growing. Many small business owners are prone to nitpick over every stage of the selection process; however, owners of big businesses also tend to do the same. The reason for this caution stems from the desire to avoid hiring the wrong person and so business owners – or whoever is in charge of hiring new employees – need to be reasonably sure that whoever they are hiring would be a perfect fit for their company.
THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT WHILE HIRING EMPLOYEES
There are millions of jobseekers out there, contributing to a wide pool of a myriad of personalities and qualities. And so, justifiably, there are many things business owners have to worry about when they are in the process of hiring employees. Some of them include:
- The type of company
Organizations differ from one another in terms of the services they render and the type of goods they produce. Even within the same industry and field, different companies have peculiar differences which are inherent in them. Some companies operate on a smaller scale, while others are on the larger scale of things, which means that bigger companies may require a bigger workforce or number of personnel, compared to their smaller counterparts.
- The present requirements of the company
At every stage of production or service rendering (or both), the personnel requirements of the company may differ. Even when all the personnel requirements of the company have been identified and collated, they still need to be sorted before any hiring processes can begin. For instance, a company may need a new Public Relations Officer because the old one is retiring or resigning and there is an obvious gap that needs to be filled. And sometimes, new hires may simply be needed in a department because the workload is too much for the existing personnel at that particular time; resulting in a situation when the existing employees of the company are not able to operate effectively on their own. Sometimes, a department may require the services of someone who is efficient in a particular skill or language, yet the company may not have revenues – or the inclination – to train existing employees, who already have their own workload, in that skill. In this case, a new hiring process may begin. But ultimately, personnel requirements vary from company to company and from department to department. However, these needs must be recognized and acknowledged by the business owner and every gap in production or service-rendering must be filled.
- The accuracy of the job description in the advertisement
After the personnel requirements of the company have been identified and the business owner – or owners – has decided acknowledge the vacancy, an accurate description of the available position must be placed in any advertisements. This is a very crucial stage in the hiring process as proper wording and an accurate job description will go a long way in determining the type and quality of jobseekers who would respond to the advertisement. A good job description is not just one that is free of errors, it is a statement of what exactly the specific company is looking for in new hires. If the business owner is looking for employees with a number of years of experience in a particular industry, or qualifications in a particular field, the job description in advertisements is the perfect means to communicate these requirements. Even in cases where formal qualifications or certifications are not required for job application, and where the business owners are more invested in the potential of their future employees, the wordings of job descriptions still need to reflect this to a certain extent as it would play a crucial role in helping possible applicants to determine whether or not they should try out for the job.
- Background checks
Once applications are in and the deadline stated in the advertisement has passed, a new stage of the hiring process begins. Each company and business owner should have their own ways of evaluating the applicants’ responses (i.e. their own ways of rating CVs and resumes) and determining who or which candidates would be the perfect fit for their company. However, some of the general rules that determine selection in various organizations involve well structured application documents including CVs, resumes and cover letters. However, business owners have a responsibility to go a step further by confirming the stated qualifications of their applicants; particularly shortlisted applicants. This can be done by calling up the applicants’ institutions for confirmation of their degrees and making inquiries from their listed referrals or referees. Some companies go even further by making enquiries about the candidates’ previous employments and why the individuals are no longer working in those places, while others may check out all of the shortlisted candidates’ social media pages.
However, companies and business owners need to know that this responsibility of carrying out some kind of background checks goes both ways. Prospective job applicants have to confirm job advertisements and be sure that they are legit before they begin sending in their CVs and other documents. This is essential, particularly considering the overwhelming number of scams floating around in this digital age. One way of confirming listed job postings is to visit the official website of the companies and check for the job listing there. However, sometimes, companies do not post vacancies on their websites and in these cases confirmation would be more effectively done by using the companies’ official contact information.
- The employee’s attitude
A lot of the time, companies get applicants who are perfect on paper with qualifications and credentials that check out. However, these candidates may not portray the right kind of attitude during interviews. And this may be the determining factor since teamwork and good interpersonal work relationships between employees are important for the continued success of any company of business. If a candidate’s attitude leaves much to be desired in this regard, it might be best for business owners not to hire them at that moment; since such individuals may constitute a toxic work environment for other employees, especially those on the teams they would be hired into. The individuals may also have many unnecessary and avoidable altercations with valued customers of the business if they are hired, and so, business owners should worry about hiring them.