5 Best Hiring Practices to Implement in Your Small Business

If you’re the hiring manager, recruiter, or business owner of a small business, it can feel incredibly overwhelming when it’s time to hire an employee. After all, you have to spend time writing a job description, putting together an attractive benefits package, advertising the vacant role, filtering resumes, and interviewing candidates. It’s a lot of work that can quickly pile up and eat into your productivity. If you want to streamline your hiring process and find the best possible talent, keep reading below to learn some of our best hiring tips.

Tip #1: Write a Great Job Description

A job description is critically important for attracting the attention of potential employees. Here are some basics you should include in your job description:

• Job title
• Job responsibilities
• Reporting relationship
• Required skills and competencies
• Minimum level of education or certifications required
• Salary range
• Benefits package
• Summary of the role in relationship to the company

Essentially, your written job description is like an advertisement for the role and company itself. If you write a job description that is simply a never-ending list of bullet points describing various responsibilities, you’ll likely lose many candidates’ interest. Try to keep your job description as concise as possible, without losing any necessary detail.

And don’t forget to add in what benefits the employee can expect if they get hired. That can be a serious draw for applicants to apply!

Tip #2: Post on Niche Job Search Sites

Besides job board websites like Indeed and LinkedIn, consider looking through more niche job boards as well that are more industry specific. For example, if you’re hiring for a tech role, you might want to post on AngelList.com. Or, if you’re hiring a purely remote job, consider posting the job on Remote.co. These are just a few of the options you can use to find new talent.

Tip #3: Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Applicant tracking systems can be useful to automate much of the manual labor involved in the hiring process. Use applicant tracking systems to send out emails to successful or unsuccessful candidates with updates, schedule interviews, and send out final offers for employment. These can be serious timesavers for busy hiring managers.

Tip #4: Screen Candidates via Phone First

A phone interview is a great way to get a feel for how serious a job candidate is. Ask questions like the following to figure out next steps:

• Why are you leaving your current company?
• How did you hear about this role?
• What are your salary expectations?
• Why do you think that you’re prepared for this role?
• What skills do you have that would make you a good fit for this role?

Tip #5: Get a Background Check on Successful Candidates

Conducting a background check for employment for successful candidates is essential. A background check can verify an applicant’s identity and Social Security number. It can also tell you whether the Social Security number is valid and who it belongs to.

You can also verify a candidate’s address, credit report, and get important identifying information like a candidate’s name, date of birth, and any credit inquiries. This part of the screening process is particularly important if you’re hiring for a financial role or for a role dealing with sensitive information. You don’t want to hire an employee who is a security risk or vulnerable to blackmail.

Besides financial and identification information, a background check also examines criminal histories. A background check will show things like dismissed charged, acquitted charges, felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions, and current pending charges.

Do you think a bad hire doesn’t matter? Well, according to one survey, one bad hire cost 27% percent of employers more than $50,000. That’s a lot of money for just one bad egg.

So, it makes sense to take extra precautions when it comes to hiring people for your company.

Conclusion: Finding the Right Talent

When you’re trying to find new talent for your company, it can feel incredible overwhelming. After all, it’s a lot of manual labor to work through and lots of effort sifting through applications. However, by following the tips in this article, you can quickly find new, amazing talent and grow your business successfully. Happy hiring!

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