Small Business Hiring: Wading Through the Candidate Pool

Having hired numerous employees for a variety of line level and supervisory positions throughout my management career, I know first hand just how difficult the selection process can be. For small business owners, for whom time, resources and money are often at a premium, hiring the right employee the first time around can be critical to the health and success of their business.

It's not always easy to know who is right for a particular position, though. You have to make sure he or she wouldn't be better placed in another role, and determine whether this person is indeed serious and sincere about the position for which they are applying.

So how do you avoid such mistakes or keep from second guessing yourself as to your hiring decisions when developing a proper hiring strategy to grow a business?

While there isn't an exact science to hiring employees, and even the most experienced hiring manager can make mistakes, here are a few hiring priorities to consider when forming a small business hiring strategy.

A Cross-Training Strategy

Looking for candidates who are flexible, are easily adaptable to a variety of roles within your workplace and have a desire to learn could be the perfect strategy for growing your business. People who can fill more than one role may provide the opportunity for cross-training, and this could allow you to move employees between various positions during times of increased or decreased business levels. Such a strategy can also help grow the employee, making him or her a better candidate for promotion or preparing him or her to take on other responsibilities to help expand your operation.

Wading Through the Candidate Pool

Let's face it; as much as you'd like to sit down and interview each and every one of your potential job applicants, it's probably just not practical. But you have to narrow down your candidate pool somehow. This is where reviewing candidates' resumes and applications can help you to weed out less desirable applicants. By starting with this step first, you can begin to pick through your prospective candidates without necessarily spending a lot of time interviewing everyone who walks through the door.

Resumes and Applications

Sorting resumes and applications isn't always as easy as it sounds. Sometimes the best candidate for the role doesn't fill out the best application and vice versa. However, there are a few things you can look for that might make your selection strategy easier.

Starting with a candidate's relevant job history, job descriptions and educational background, you can begin to form an idea of whether this person is well-situated for a particular position within your organization. But these pieces of information don't always tell the whole story. Sometimes things like roles, activities or positions in organizations outside the workplace can tell you a lot about a person as well. Employment gaps and whether a candidate has listed available references from previous employers might tell you something about their work history and whether they left an employer on favorable terms.

First Impressions

Sometimes it's easy to make an employment decision. In fact, the applicant himself may actually make it for you. Not providing the correct contact information on an application, not being prepared with a pen, notepad, resume, etc., looking disheveled and disorganized when coming to fill out an application or being late for an interview -- while maybe not legally justifiable reasons for not hiring someone -- may all be indications that this person is not the right candidate to grow your organization.

The Interview

It's often easy for candidates to put on new suits for an interview or fudge the information provided on resumes or work applications to make it appear that they are more qualified for a job than they actually are. This is where the interview process can come in handy in assisting you to make that final decision for whom to hire and for what position.

Looking for indications from the candidate of potential excitement regarding the position, knowledge regarding the role and requirements, a willingness to learn, an ability to think outside the box, and the desire to go the extra mile, grow and advance can help point you in the right direction for your hiring choice and strategy to grow a small business. Sometimes a candidate's willingness to work hard and learn can actually be more important to their success in a particular role than his or her educational background or even experience. A lack of previous experience in a candidate may even allow you to train them as you would like, with their having little or no preconceived notions or bad habits formed by previous employers or job experiences.

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How Self-Audits Can Improve Productivity

Determining a Marketing Budget for a Small Business

Keeping Your Business Afloat During an Economic Storm

Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial or human resources professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial or employment advice. For financial advice, readers should consult a licensed financial advisor. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.