"I can't find the right people." 
"No one wants to work." 
"It's easier to do the work myself."
"The good ones never stay very long."
"What can I expect? It's a part-time job." 

Sound familiar?

What can you do to improve the odds that your hiring practices produce the results you want?

This Human Resources series will provide strategies to help you identify how to get the right people, how to motivate and train your team, how to evaluate your employee's performance effectively and, finally, how to compensate your employees.

Before you can hire, take time to create a talent strategy and identify the job functions that must be performed. What are the jobs in your company that only you can do? What functions can you train someone else to perform well?

An Org Chart will help you evaluate the functions within your company and evaluate ways to restructure. With an accurate chart, you will be able to develop growth strategies and assign new projects. You’ll even be able to assess if the chart makes sense: some businesses find that they have multi-talented employees who could be put to work on other projects or answering to multiple departments. A clear organizational chart can help you map inefficiencies in your workplace. Clarity of your culture, organization structure and specific job needs starts the process of hiring that one great hire which is much better than making three or four or five mediocre hires. It is worth the effort!

• A chart can help you build and design your company structure to your objectives.

• Employees will have a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the organization, as well as the hierarchy of management.

• A chart can help you logically explain the functions or duties of each department.

• Gain a clear overview of your organization’s staff members.

• Identify employees who have too many duties – or not enough.

• Help other departments see the chain of command so that large projects can be planned easily.

• Analyze and account for each department’s budget design work team and generate reports.

Take 10 minutes and begin your organization chart and name the person(s) performing each function. It's possible that one person is performing many different functions. Need sample organization chart? Check out our free resources.

In his book, E-Myth Revisted, Michael Gerber suggests creating the org chart from the top down. Then work yourself out of the lower jobs first and move back toward the top. Identify the jobs that you or other leaders perform that can be handed to another employee or new hire.

Now that you know the jobs needed to grow your business, create the job descriptions.

Job descriptions define expectations and results for the potential employee. Don't start the hiring process without a job description!

Identify realistic and achievable targets you expect from the employee. Your business goals are the driving force for the targets. 

Want more in-depth help to create a great job description? Contact Us to get a copy of our Job Description Worksheet.

• Demographics - Forbes contributor, Maynard Webb, wrote, "By 2022 the workforce is expected to be comprised of 47% women and 40% minorities. If we find a way to appeal to everyone and become a magnet for openness, diversity and inclusion, we will have stronger companies and stronger futures." Read his article, How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase Diversity.
• Experience - Ideal employees would bring a background of similar type of experiences to the job that you are filling. Setting “minimum” number of years experience in a field is very commonplace and effective. However, remember that some different jobs have similar types of skills needed for success. For example, if you are looking for a position in customer service where your position has a tremendous amount of direct person-to-person contact, you may be able to fill the position with someone in an unrelated field, but who has had a high degree of interaction with people.
• Skills and capabilities - Abilities are a bit harder to clearly define than experience and education, but are as important – if not more important! It is critical that you define the abilities needed to perform the job properly. Abilities such as effective communication, good writing skills, ability to lift heavy objects, leadership, etc. are much easier to recognize once you have clearly defined the job requirements and company needs.
• Education - While most employers require at least a high school degree (or its equivalency), jobs that are more technical often require more advanced education. Therefore, some jobs as an accountant at a CPA firm, etc. have obvious educational requirements. Also, please note that training received at a former employer or less traditional educational opportunities exist, such as specialized sales courses, working as an apprentice under a great chef, as well as community college courses.
• Behavioral Style - Think about the type of person you need to fill the role. Your company may need to hire candidates for intelligence, personality and reasoning. For example, consider questions like: "Will this person work alone or with a group?" and "How much or how little autonomy will the employee have in this role?" Consider using assessments like Extended DISC®.
  

Have you found that most applicants aren’t a good fit? You can waste a lot of time – especially if you write the wrong classified ad. Most ads will just hit the basics and hope they stumble onto gold. What is your ad really saying?

Design your ad to represent the person you want to hire...not the job. Your dream employee will probably not know your business. They will not recognize the job you detail. You can, however, be confident that they will recognize themselves based on your description!

Warning! Pay attention to how you write your advertisement. Writing about a 2018 lawsuit involving the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Bob Neiman cautions, "Employers should avoid getting themselves in hot water ... by writing job postings that do not set a cap on the amount of experience an applicant may have to be considered for a job." (How Not to Write a Job Posting)

Consider the following ideas:

• The ad should be about the employee, not the job. Write in second person.

• For online posts: Keywords. Use them carefully and place in the title.

• Questions are the answer. Have you ever read a question that was aimed at you and completely escaped thinking about the answer? Ask for exactly what you want. Raise the bar, challenging the prospect if they are up to the position.

• Include success measures.

• Make it dynamic.

• You get what you pay for. Stingy, short, choppy ads communicate a lack of respect for the position. They give the impression that you don’t care. They effectively say, “Take it or leave it.”

• Use Job Grader to assess the overall quality of your ad.

Where do you post your advertisement? Are you getting the results you want? What other options are available to you? Here are a few ideas of places to advertise your job posting. Don't rely on one or two sources.

1. Referrals - tap into your own personal network ... look for local job search or HR forums

2. Daily or local newspaper

3. Internet job sites - examples include Monster, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder

4. Social Media like Facebook or LinkedIn

5. Trade associations

6. Industry publications

7. In-house

8. Competitors

9. Staffing Services - with a little research, you may discover professional services as well as publicly-funded government programs or non-profit services in your area

What other places do you advertise your job openings?

The interview process can be a challenge. Here are a few tips for conducting successful interviews:

Interview preparation

1.   Budget your time effectively - Plan on two hours for the interview. Don't forget to include time to prepare pre-interview and assess post-interview.

2.   Consider phone interview

3.   Consider group interview

4.   Prepare question list - Ask real questions. Consider behavioral and situational questions. For example, "Explain a problem your team struggles with and ask the candidate to walk you through how she would solve it. Or describe a process your company uses, and ask her to identify inefficiencies." (HBR, 2015)

First Interview

• Take good notes
• Grade applicants - Contact us for an interview grading template.
• Contact finalists

Second Interview

• Review compensation

• Review other company specifics

We hear this time and again. Good employees gone bad. Bad employees gone worse. Most often, these challenges are a result of professional skills, not technical skills.

This is an indicator that technical skills are vetted well during the hiring process, but "soft", interpersonal or professional skills are not assessed well during the hiring process.

Using pre-employment assessment tests to hire the best candidates is good practice, but only when combined with other recruiting methods.

What records or background information do you need before making the official offer to hire? Are you asking for referrals? If yes, then follow up with phone calls or emails to the people provided by the candidate. Do you need a background check or drug test?

Whatever you need, have that information prepared for the candidate. Once you decide on the right candidate, don't let time slip away as you wait for these procedures.

Contingency planning isn't just about major crises and natural disasters. It can also prepare you for more commonplace problems, such as the loss of data, staff, customers, or business relationships.

Disruptions due to staffing shortfalls can hurt your bottom line and threaten the sustainability of your company. 

When you lose an employee, consider the potential impact:

• Lost sales

• Delayed sales

• Increased expenses such as overtime, outsourcing, expediting costs, etc. 

• Fines

• Contractual penalties 

• Customer loss 

It is in your best interest to research and consider ways to plan for an emergency. Work with your business coach to create a custom contingency plan specific to your situation.

Creating these processes and systems are simple, but rarely easy. Infinite Ping is here to help you find clarity, accountability and results in your hiring process. Contact us to gain actionable next steps and start your journey to creating a fantastic team. 

Do you want more than hiring help? Accelerate your business success today. Complete the business effectiveness evaluation. The assessment measures 10 key areas of business and organizational effectiveness.

Infinite Ping believes great community is a product of ever-improving culture, business systems and empowering leaders to lead from their strengths. We provide online and in-person coaching, consulting, workshops and training to transform leaders, organizations and culture. With offices in the USA and Egypt, we serve local and international organizations.