Hiring a new employee can transform your business. It is critical to find the right match for your position and company, and to develop a formal hiring process that is fast, effective, and legal.
Without the help of a dedicated HR team or experts like Mint Kulca, creating and managing your own hiring process from scratch can be intimidating. This guide walks you through how to hire employees, from recruiting and interviewing through to extending an offer and onboarding. Learn how to find and place the right new hire for your business in just 13 steps!
Signs that Show it Might be Time to Hire Another Employee
At small companies, employees often have to take on many roles and switch tasks frequently. This can be a sign of flexibility and resourcefulness, but it can also mean that the employee is stretched too thin. Over-extension can lead to burnout, low productivity, and inefficiencies in your business.
No matter what your company size, there are clear signs that can show you when a new hire is necessary. If you pay attention to these signs, you can make sure your business keeps growing and that you maintain high employee morale:
- Your employee turnover rate is high
- Overtime costs are rising
- Your team frequently falls short of goals
- Customer complaints suddenly become more frequent
- You often need to extend deadlines
- Not having the capacity in the business to take on new clients or projects
- Your team lacks specialised skills
- You haven’t taken any time off in ages
What Are the Benefits of a Bigger Team?
The benefits of hiring employees include increased revenue, capacity, and brand recognition. New employees can also bring skills that take years to develop, filling your company’s skills gaps and driving rapid growth. Hiring a new employee gives you the opportunity to offload tasks and increase your capacity, boosting productivity and freeing up time for you and your team members to focus on what’s important.
Employees who bring new ideas and a forward-thinking approach can help inject creativity and innovation into your business. This can help you make critical process improvements, recognize new opportunities, and help the team see things from a new perspective to stimulate advancement and growth.
13 Steps to Hiring Employees that Perform Well in Their Role
1. Research the Role
To prepare for recruiting, look at similar job descriptions and resumes to understand what skills and experience are required. Monitor job trends to identify popular job titles and keywords and compare salaries to determine the right compensation level. Make a list of key job duties and characteristics of your ideal candidate.
At this step, it is important to speak to line managers or heads of departments where the potential employee hire will be placed. They can help you gain a more in-depth perspective on job responsibilities and what will be required of the new hire.
2. Tweak the Job Advert Title
To attract qualified candidates, post a job advert with a clear and concise job title that will rank high in search results on reputable job posting sites. Avoid using buzzwords because job seekers are unlikely to search for a job using those terms. Instead, choose a standard job title that job seekers are searching for.
3. Use an Inclusive and Effective Job Description
To compete with other companies, create clear, meaningful job descriptions using popular keywords your ideal candidate is likely to search for. Make sure your job description is accurate and describes the job responsibilities, requirements, and rewards clearly. It will encourage high-quality candidates to apply.
Remember to include soft skills that will help applicants assess their employment eligibility for the role. In this way, you can avoid applications that don’t meet the minimum requirements. When an applicant knows at a glance whether they are suited, it can lead to a stronger candidate pool that makes your next steps easier. Learn more about inclusive recruitment practices here.
4. Review the Applicants
When you have several applicants, it’s time to narrow down your candidates based on their resumes and your hiring strategy. Filter out applicants who don’t match the key job requirements and look for clues that tell a story about the candidate’s motivations, experience, and work style.
Assess whether there are any quantitative indicators of a candidate’ s past performance. Look at the length of time they spent at previous jobs, although “job hopping” may be common in certain industries. Do you see a clear career progression? Is the resume littered with grammatical errors? Will their skills and experiences match your requirements?
When you review resumes, you can also communicate with top candidates to learn more about their qualifications. The goal is to create a short list of the best candidates. It can help you decide who should move forward in the hiring process.
5. Interview Prospective Employees
When interviewing candidates, use a phone screen to determine if they meet the basic job description and if there is a mutual fit. Then, invite three promising candidates to an in-person interview. Ask questions that reveal their skills and qualifications, important personality traits, and level of enthusiasm for the role and company.
You can consider video interviews to make your hiring process more inclusive. Avoid topics that may discriminate against candidates, like age, race, marital status, etc.
Do you need help crafting interview questions specific to the position you’re hiring for? You can speak to an expert at Mint Kulca today – we can help fine-tune your interview process.
It is also a good idea to take notes in each interview. It will help you remember the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate when it’s time to make your final hiring decision.
Hot Tip:Â Get access to our library of Hiring Strategy webinars and ebooks.
6. Check Their References
Checking references is a great way to gain insights, verify skills, and ensure that candidates are being honest about their work experience and qualifications. Request references from your top candidates and give them a quick call.
Consider asking the candidate’s references three to five questions, such as confirming job title, responsibilities, start and end dates, etc., and how long they have known/worked with the candidate. It’s best to determine the questions you will ask beforehand and to ask all references the same questions consistently.
7. Stick to Your Recruitment Strategy
When you have multiple roles to fill or dozens of applicants for a single position, it can get overwhelming quickly. Organise your recruitment efforts and keep track of interesting candidates by using candidate statuses and taking detailed notes on each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. You can also work with experts in hiring strategy such as Mint Kulca to help you hire top performers up to 90% of the time!
8. Select the Perfect Candidate
When you have multiple choices on your list of candidates that you believe would be a good fit, deciding on the best one can be challenging. To make a decision, consider what you know about each job candidate’s skills, personality, and experience. Think about how they will contribute to your team and company and compare notes with others who were involved in the hiring process.
It’s about more than their skills and CV. It is important for the potential candidate to suite the company culture. With the help of Mint Kulca, you can also ensure they are suitable for the specific role you are hiring them for and that they will perform well.
9. Present an Offer of Employment
When you’ve chosen your best candidate, it’s time to extend an offer of employment. Before sending the official invitation, email the candidate to arrange a time to speak over the phone. During this conversation, you can express enthusiasm about inviting them to join the team and present the terms and conditions of your offer, including pay, benefits, start date, and location.
If the candidate accepts verbally, send an official written offer letter. Your offer letter must cover everything you discussed during the phone call. you can consider getting the offer reviewed by a professional to ensure it meets legal requirements.
10. Notify Candidates Who Did Not Get the Job
Candidates who apply to jobs online often receive generic rejections without any explanation. In order to avoid burning bridges, send a personalised rejection email to candidates who haven’t heard back within 24 hours. Tell them what you liked about their application and what you didn’t like. Give specific examples of how they could improve their resume or cover letter. Mention something positive about their skill set so they can see where you think they might be able to succeed.
11. Fulfil Legal Obligations
When hiring an employee, you should make sure you follow the proper procedures to ensure compliance with SA labour laws. It’s also a good idea to consult a lawyer before starting the hiring process. They can help you set up an employment contract that meets all the requirements in South Africa’s labour laws.
12. The Onboarding Process
A great onboarding experience makes your new hire feel welcome. It also lays the groundwork for a successful career. On your new employee’s first days, make sure they have everything they need to succeed.
This can include a comfortable workspace, easy access to resources, and a mentor to guide them through the early stages of their job. When designing an effective onboarding program, you can consider including the following. Host a team lunch for the new employee and their colleagues.
Give them a free bag of branded gear, like a pen, shirt, mug, etc. This can help them feel connected to your company. Connect the new hire with a mentor to guide them through business operations and accustom them to company culture.
13. Measure Success
It’s important to track your results and make sure your hiring strategy is delivering value. An effective hiring process is not stagnant, but constantly informed and adapted as new job openings are filled and become available. Some tools like Mint Kulca’s platform can help you make informed decisions and track the success of your placement.
