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HOW TO HIRE

One of the most important decisions you must make as a business owner is whom to hire. The people you employ can make or break your business.  But you must recognize that you will never be able to hire the best people - only the best available people. You are always limited to the people who apply for the position you have open. Given that your choice will always be limited, how do you hire the best available person? Here are some helpful suggestions:

Make your search for job candidates a continuous process.
Start your search for employees as far in advance as you can.  Don't wait until you're so desperate that you hire the first applicant who walks in the door. Be on the lookout for potential candidates constantly, even if you have no job openings at the moment.  When somebody who's looking for a job walks in the door or sends you a letter, take the time to consider their application.  If they look promising, go ahead with an interview. Sure, you'll be investing precious time in considering an application when you have no immediate plans to hire. But think of it this way - you are investing in the future.

Obviously, you need to tell such job candidates what you are doing. Make it clear that you have no jobs open at the moment, but wanted to talk to them in case something became available in the future. Ask them if you can keep their names on file. This way, when you do have a job opening, you can contact these pre-screened applicants. True, many of them will have other jobs by then and may no longer be interested in making a change. Yet many will - particularly those who had a strong desire to work for your company in the first place. And after all, isn't that the kind of person you really want to hire - someone who really wants to work for you?

Use part-time, temporary, and/or seasonal employment as a low-risk tryout.
Observing a person's performance on a limited trial basis, as a temporary, part-time, or seasonal employee, is a great way to find out what kind off full-time employee he or she might be. If it doesn't work out, you haven't lost anything. If such an employee does the job well, you have a proven candidate for the next full-time job available.

Another good idea is to hire temporary workers to supplement the regular work force during peak periods or to fill in for regular employees who are on leave or on vacation. Obviously, some people are interested only in part-time, seasonal, or temporary work; they don't want to work full time. Many others, however, use part-time or temporary jobs to break into the work force for the first time, to move to a new line of work, or to support themselves while they look for full-time jobs in your company. The limited or trial work period gives them a chance to get to know you and gives you a chance to get to know them.

Use the "success indicators" to hire the best available person.
Remember that any person's potential for success in a given job is a function of all the following success indicators:

• Their Job knowledge (the "how to" factor)
• Their motivation (the "want to" factor)
• Their ability (the "able to" factor)

Job knowledge is determined by a candidate's education, training and experience. Ideally, you are looking for people who already know how to do the job you'll be asking them to do and have done it successfully in the  not-too-distant past.  To evaluate job knowledge, check each candidate's work history, training, and education.  Ask candidates what they have done, where they did it, and how well they did it. Ask about their successes and the problems they've faced. Ask about their training and education as it applies to the job you are trying to fill.

Ask for references, and call them to find out what kind of work the applicant did and how well he or she did it. Also, verify training and education. Did the person really obtain the degree, complete the course, and so on? Unfortunately, you can't depend entirely on what applicants tell you about their education, training, and experience, since many people will exaggerate and a few may even lie.  At minimum, you should verify the dates of employment, training, and education with third-party sources.

Internal motivation is determined by what the candidate gets from performing the job. Think of work performance as an exchange - the candidate will perform the job well if he receives something he wants in return.  Obviously, money is one thing the candidate wants. But money is rarely the only thing - and often not the most important thing - that people want from a job. There area lots of ways people can make money. Excellent job performance is usually motivated by something that goes beyond salary.  For whatever reason, the best employees are those who enjoy what they do. Maybe they like the hours; maybe it's the location; maybe it's the people they work with; maybe it's the work itself. We all want and like different things.  Your task is to make the best match - to find a person who wants to do and likes to do the job you're hiring them for.

How do you find out what job applicants want and like? Ask them.  Knowing about their hobbies and interests can help you decide if they would be good at a particular job. For example, a person who likes to shop may enjoy retail sales. Someone who likes outdoor sports may also like working outdoors, selling sports equipment, or coaching. You should also find out what the candidate liked (and disliked) about jobs he or she held in the past.  If a candidate hated working overtime on a previous job, you wouldn't want to hire him or her for a job that requires a lot of over time.  If he or she hated commuting long distances to a previous job, you may be able to offer a place to work closer to home.

Try to find out why applicants want to work for you. Are they just looking for a job - any job - or are they attracted to your particular company for some reason? Get a sense of what the candidates think it would be like to do the job you will be asking them to do.  Find out what their goals and ambitions are.  Spend some time getting to know them.  Then ask yourself if it's realistic to expect that they'll get what they want from the job you have to offer.  If they will, great! You've got a prime candidate.  If not, think twice. By offering the person a job, you may create a situation that will make both of you unhappy.

Finally, consider each applicant's natural ability. Excellent performers are often excellent because they were born with or developed unique traits that are ideally matched to their jobs.  Consider the job you are attempting to fill. Does it require any particular personal characteristics - for instance, physical strength, hand/eye coordination, or verbal ability? What type of personality does best on that job - quiet and introspective, or boisterous and outgoing? How is the candidate similar to or different from people you know who currently perform that type of job well?

How do you evaluate a job candidate's mental and physical abilities? Testing is one option, but testing can be expensive, time consuming, and all too frequently unreliable. Your best bet maybe simply talking to the candidates and drawing your own conclusions.   It's also a good idea to observe applicants performing some of the duties they would have on the job. For example, in hiring trainers for our own company, we have prospective candidates prepare and lead a short training session. Their performance is never perfect, but the session allows us to form some opinion of their training skills.

When you're through with interviews, reference checks, and testing, you should have a clear idea of the "success indicators" for each candidate. Then, and only then, are you prepared to make your selection. The ideal choice would be a person with all the requisite job knowledge, the necessary abilities, and a strong inner drive or motivation to do the work. However, the chances of finding such a perfect match are slim. Remember, you're selecting the best available, not necessarily the best.  It's unlikely that any candidate will rate a perfect "10" on all three success indicators, so you must choose the candidate with the best combination of traits across all three indicators. For example, the best person to hire might be a candidate who doesn't have the ideal mental or physical trails for the job, but has a strong drive to succeed and excellent job knowledge. Never discount a candidate for weaknesses in one of the three areas; strengths in the other areas can easily outweigh any weaknesses.

We have found that job knowledge, motivation, and ability are roughly equal predictors of job performance, with motivation having a slight edge. Your task in selecting a candidate is to evaluate what you have learned about their job knowledge, motivation, and abilities. How successful do you think they will be in the job? If you have any doubts, don't hire them, at least not until you resolve your doubts. A critical factor in the performance of any new employee is your belief that the person will succeed. To hire an
employee for whom you have lesser expectations is to court disaster.

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