Hiring the right employees isn’t an easy affair. There are several great professional out there that would contribute positively towards your company’s progress. However, there are also several that would hinder it. In many cases, you’ll find that an employee that looks good on paper isn’t always the right fit in reality. Bad employees are like rotten apples that can spoil the entire basket.
They can create an environment of negativity and that will impact how well your team performs. Small business owners, unfortunately, have very little time to filter out these bad potential employees. Here are some tips that would help you.
Keep a Profile in Mind
Building an employee profile beforehand is a very common and useful practice. This helps most employers recruit the right people for their company. However, it’s vital to build the right profile in the first place. After all, if the mould isn’t right to begin with, how can you expect the end result to be right?
It’s very important to ensure that the profile you create fits the job and the company. Most employers forget this fact when they hire people. They create a profile that would be ideal for that particular job but not the whole company. In the end, that can cause problems because even though your potential employee might do a great job, they might not fit in well with the company environment.
Ask For Referrals
Hiring blindly is never a good idea. Naturally, in some cases, it’s unavoidable. If you hire straight from college or a talented person who’s never worked before, you can’t really ask for reliable references. However, whenever possible, ask for references and follow it up. Discuss the potential employee’s strengths and weakness with previous employers. This would give you a clear idea of what the new hire would be like and what you can expect from them.
If you find that the employee doesn’t seem to have the right attitude for your company, think twice before you hire the person. Hiring solely on the basis of talent can be counterproductive.
Communicate Personally
There’s nothing better than your own instincts to gauge whether a potential employee would be right for you or not. While it might be time consuming, call the applicant and speak to them personally. You need to pay attention here and try to understand the applicant’s character and nature. In most cases, you’ll be able to determine it in the first few moments of the call. Study their tone and listen to their answers. If they’re calm, self-assured, and confident without being arrogant, they might be a good hire.
Pay Attention to Performance
Once you’ve determined that you’ve hired the right person, it’s important to keep an eye on them. Observe how well they fit into the team and what their performance is like. You’ll need to give a new employee some breathing room, allowing them to settle in. However, you still need to see what kind of effect they have on other employees. If the effect is positive or neutral, you’ve made a fair choice. If it’s negative, you need to step in and do something about it.
