Running a small business can feel very personal — but it’s still business.
In fact, in my experience, the biggest problems arise in our businesses when we let our feelings get in the way. It’s not that feelings are bad; your gut reaction and emotions definitely have their place in running a successful business. It’s that too often we let our feelings run the show and run away with us.
Hiring is one place this often comes into play in a serious way. People hire friends or family members, they hire people they “feel good about” or people who have a heart-wrenching story, people who really need the job or who have so much potential….
When really, the process of hiring is just that: a process. And feelings don’t really come into play until the final decision.
I used to consult with other financial planners and help them find staff for their financial planning practices. I used to do this SO OFTEN that I got the process very systematized. In fact, I got it SO turnkey that I didn’t even start to become interested in any specific candidate until pretty late in the process.
I think this detachment is essential to getting a good staff person. Don’t get attached to how awesome one resume is; get attached to someone who ticks all the boxes, including how they present themselves in person and how they communicate off the cuff.
I break down a search process into seven steps. The seven steps are pretty much as expected, but it’s the level of detail you take with each step—and some specific best practices—which really make the difference between a good search and a great one
1. Define The Job And Candidate Characteristics.
I covered this in-depth in a prior post, but essentially, you want to be crystal clear about the job duties, complementary characteristics, and your compensation plan before even starting your search.
If you’re not clear on these items, how can you possibly expect to find the right candidate? And, more importantly, if you’re not clear on these items, how can you possibly expect someone to excel at the job when even you don’t know exactly what you expect of them?
Check out this free worksheet to get started brainstorming these vital details.
2. Create A Compelling Posting.
You know the one thing candidates would tell me when they submitted their resume? “Wow, your post was just so conversational and fun to read, I was excited about submitted my resume!”
That’s because I was always trying to “sell” the position. You want to make it seem great in order to get the most candidates interested.
Just like when you’re selling a product, it’s much easier to sell a position when you have all the details worked out ahead of time. Then you can include phrases like, “competitive benefits package!” and not just be whistling Dixie.
3. Screen Judiciously.
You’ve got to be a hard ass when it comes to deleting resumes with typos or bad formatting. I also typically add a specific instruction to my job posting, like using a certain subject line, and I can tell if someone followed my instruction before even opening the email. If they didn’t follow the VERY FIRST INSTRUCTION I provided, how can I expect them to follow any others? Delete.
This may seem arbitrary, but believe me when I say you’ll be looking for reasons to eliminate people when you’ve read your 50th resume…
4. Survey The Candidates.
Before I talk to anyone live, I send a survey to each of the qualified candidates to get 1) a more detailed background on each person and 2) to see how or if they will formatting on the form. Do they leave it boring and unformatted, or do they take the extra step to make sure everything looks good?
This is just another opportunity for me to screen — some people will never get back to you; and others will ignore your instructions. Thanks but no thanks. Either way, you end up with more information and a narrower field of candidates.
5. Talk To The Candidates.
FINALLY, you can talk to some of these people! My first phone call was always more about getting a sense of them and explaining the position. You can also ask any clarifying questions about their resume or their survey answers. This is also a good time to give them a general salary range (if it wasn’t listed in the job posting) so that you can avoid awkward, “Oh, I need at least $10,000 more than that…” conversations later.
If they seemed interested (and alive), I would move them onto a second interview.
6. Interview The Candidates.
When I was screening for other planners, this was the point at which I sent the candidates over for an in-person interview. If you’re doing virtual interviews, you might even get them on Skype so you can have a face to face.
Interviewing can be scary, even for the interviewer! I like to use the “tell me about a time…” type interview questions. The reason I like these is that 1) it requires a story from the interviewees 2) it requires them to explain what they did about an issue, and 3) it requires the interviewees to distinguish their actions from a result.
When someone has the wherewithal to answer these questions effectively, you almost always get an awesome hire. When I was an office manager for my old broker-dealer, I did all of the hiring and my office had not only the best retention in the region, but also the best results.
7. Deliver The Offer.
Once you have identified your ideal candidate, you check references. Remember, these days many employers won’t give you much more than confirming the dates the person worked there, but you can always ask for character references as well — just be aware that you’ll likely be talking to the person’s best buddies, not their boss.
Once that is done, you send them an offer email. Some business owners avoid pulling the trigger because they aren’t 100% sure. Here’s a hiring secret: you will never be 100% sure of anyone. You have to just start and accept that you need to gather more data (about 90 days’ worth) to understand whether or not you’ve made a good hire.
It’s a good idea to let your new hire know that they will have a review in 90 days — and then be sure to follow through with it! That’s a good period of time for both parties to see if things are a good fit, and a perfect opportunity to communicate any adjustments that need to be made.
And that’s it! If you follow these seven steps, you can hire with confidence like an HR pro — no matter how big or small your business is.