Everybody’s focused on recruiting these days. Where do we find talented workers? How do we get them to sign on? Good, skilled people are frankly hard

Shopping for an employee can be fun with these 10 steps!

to find. But recruiting is a whole process that can easily be mangled at every step.  So since we’ve been through this with employers a couple hundred times, we thought we’d write out a process for recruiting:

1. Get the Word Out: This doesn’t mean broadcast your job opening to the entire world. You don’t want a lot of unqualified people flooding your inbox or your phone lines. Go to the places where your qualified employees are going to be. That might be LinkedIn and certain LinkedIn groups. It might mean very specific Facebook pages for certain kinds of jobs or forums like RefreshAustin where people discuss job openings. If it’s for a marketing or communications job, there are several organizations that have job boards. Target your efforts and get the word out.

2. Explain Your Company: Nobody goes out with someone whose face isn’t on the dating profile; and nobody wants to take the time to apply for a job when they can’t find out about the company. Make sure they can learn, from your website, Indeed, other sources such as news coverage…

• What your company does.
• How financially solid it is.
• What kind of culture it has.
• What opportunities there are for job growth.
• Whether telecommuting is an option.
• How much you invest in training.

 3.  Write a Good Job Description: So, I’m tempted to write a blog that just says over and over “Job description! Job description! Job description!” A good job description explains not just the requirements and the title. It clearly lays out what that employee will be doing in the course of a normal day. And on special days. It includes information about how many hours they have to work and whether they’ll deal with customers or lift heavy boxes or handle various kinds of software.

4.  Make Application Easy:  Seriously, applying for jobs is hard enough. Don’t make them figure out three questions to cross the bridge and fight the troll to get there. Have a button that connects to a form and say “Apply Here” or give a clear email address.  Somebody who is busy and focused may not horse around with a complicated system and that’s the kind of person you want.

 5.  Funnel:  Make sure all the applications are going to the same place. You don’t want the hiring manager, and HR, and the co-workers all receiving applications. Talk about dropping balls. Have an efficient system and one place for applications to go.

6. Respond:  Do you know how many applications disappear in a black hole? They’re forming a planet in another galaxy. At the very least, have an auto responder that says “Thanks for your application, we’ll get back with you in…whatever.”  Forty-eight hours, two weeks, whatever it is.  And tell them how long you’ll keep their applications on file.

7. Testing, Testing:  You need multiple touches with candidates you’re interested in. You should email back and forth with them to see their writing skills. Speak with them both on the phone and in person to see their verbal skills. Meet with them in person to see if they are presentable and act calm and confident or if they’re shifty and strange. Have them meet the hiring manager, a peer, maybe a subordinate. Make sure if you include those other people in the interview process, you take the time to gather their feedback.

8.  Prepare for the Interview:  Do NOT wing the interview!  Make sure you ask each candidate the same questions so you’re comparing apples to apples. Make sure your questions are germane to whether the candidate can perform the job.

9. Let the Assessments Begin: It is almost never a good idea to use an out-of-the-box assessment. You need to think about what the employee will be doing every day and create an assessment that ascertains how the candidate performs on those tasks. Use your thoroughly researched job description.  But you need to know this—you may not create assessments to get people to do free work for you. For example, if you’re hiring a PR person, you can’t have this person create a press release for free and then actually use it. Put the person in various situations.  If punctuality is important, have them come back twice to show that they can be on time. If they’ll be eating with vendors or clients, take them to a restaurant to check on their eating habits. DO NOT take them to a bar.

10. Hire Slow:  By the time you’re done with this process, you should feel confident that you’ve hired the right person. Think carefully. Hire slow. Don’t be in a rush to grab somebody. This is a relationship, not a date.

And let us know if you could use any help with the steps!