If you have employees, you are probably aware that finding the right ones for your business is vital. You need people who have a great work ethic and skills to do the tasks, but who also understand your vision and fit the culture of your workplace.
Generally, finding people with the right skill set isn’t too hard (unless you are in a very niche market!). And if you have been through the recruiting process over the past few years, you have probably also found that you are not short of applicants who are good workers, committed to working the hours you set and the tasks involved.
But how do you find employees who ‘fit’ your business? That is, how do you ensure that the people you employee are going to work well with you and any other employees? How do you find people who have passion for your vision and are willing to go the extra mile? How do you know they will be loyal and committed to what you are trying to achieve?
Short answer: there is no formula for guaranteeing recruitment success. Unless you have an enormous amount of time, resources and finances to implement a lengthy recruitment process to help you really get to know a potential employee, to a large extent, you are taking a gamble on anyone you employ.
That is not to say that there are not a range of strategies you can use to get the best results possbile, including:
- scenario based questions in your interviews (ask: how would you deal with this situation?)
- informal conversations that allow potential employees to share ‘who’ they are
- trial shifts or casual hours to ‘test the waters’
Ultimately, a great deal of recruitment success comes down to immeasurable factors. One person may look great ‘on paper’, but another may just have that ‘X’ factor you are looking for. Oftentimes, listening to your gut feelings and general impressions of someone can be just as, if not more, important than an impressive list of credentials.
