Hiring is tough work and requires organization, planning, enthusiasm, and coordinating a lot of different moving parts. Doing it yourself can be a necessity if your company is on a tight budget. We’ve laid out a basic outline of the steps you’ll need to take if you plan to hire and recruit top talent on your own…
1. Collaborate with your internal team to determine the job title and requirements for the role.
It’s important your key players are on the same page here. What the CEO thinks the job is about, and what a departmental manager thinks the job is about may differ. Collaborate to ensure consistency. Keep in mind that what you want to call the job might not be the most searchable or appealing title for potential candidates. For example, if you use a really company specific or unique job title, consider making it more mainstream for your job posting. You might call it “Client Service Advocate” but a job seeker won’t search for that—they’d search for “Customer Service Manager.” You want to make sure that as candidates search for jobs that they’re interested in, your job shows up in their search.
2. Write a compelling job posting.
Job postings are different from job descriptions. A job posting should be shorter and written to be appealing to candidates. It should NOT be a list of every potential task an employee should be prepared to encounter. Think about what “hooks” your company has that will appeal to potential employees. Why would someone want to work for you? What do you offer that’s unique and attractive? Keep your language compelling and light. Don’t talk heavily about “challenges” and the negative aspects of the role. You’re selling to potential employees so you don’t want to scare them away. Indicate whether your job is onsite, hybrid, or remote. Depending on the state you’re in, you may also be required to disclose the salary range on the job posting.
3. Post your job where it makes for your business.
There are many options these days for job postings. LinkedIn continues to be the big leagues and it’s where the more sophisticated roles are posted. However, LinkedIn is also really expensive to use for recruiting and job postings, and it comes with some extra baggage that isn’t always ideal for smaller businesses. When choosing where to post your job, keep in mind things like you industry, the job’s educational requirements, the level of professional polish you expect candidates to have, and your budget. Some alternatives to LinkedIn are Glassdoor, FlexJobs, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
4. Create a plan that outlines how your process will work.
Before posting and watching resumes start flowing in, you need to answer a few fundamental questions about your hiring process:
- Who will receive the applications and review them?
- Who will make first calls and conduct first interviews with applicants?
- How many steps and how many interviews will be part of your process?
- Will you interview virtually or in-person, or a mixture of the two?
- Will you include any kind of assessment to gauge personality or experience?
- What is your salary range and who will talk to candidates about that?
- Who has the final say on making a hiring decision?
- Will you require candidates to pass a drug screen and/or a background check?
- When is your target start date?
5. Determine what questions you’ll ask in interviews.
There should be some consistency with what you ask during interviews and this is important both from a liability perspective, and as a way to notice future performance indicators. If you need particular skills or experience, ask open ended questions that lead to more information in the response. This is the difference in asking “Do you have Photoshop experience?” or “Tell me about the Photoshop experience you have.” The first way leads to a “yes” or “no” response and it doesn’t encourage elaboration and details. The second way requires the candidate to think a bit more critically and offer a specific response that will tell you something about their actual experience with Photoshop. You can use this information to be better informed on their level of savviness instead of being surprised later when they don’t have the exact skills you would have preferred.
6. Ask for referrals from great candidates.
If you interview a really amazing candidate but they are missing a critical piece of experience, or they aren’t in your salary range—ask them for a referral. Typically, great people know other great people and they may be able to connect you with someone in their network who is a better fit. Pay them a compliment in the process. You could say, “We aren’t able to budge on our salary range right now, but I love your background. Can you think of anyone in your network that you’d recommend? I’d trust your judgement and appreciate any referrals you have.”
7. Close the loop with people who don’t make the cut.
It’s unprofessional and unkind to leave people hanging after you’ve interviewed them. Whether you send an email or give them a call, it’s nice to let a candidate know if they are no longer being considered. Ghosting people can affect your company’s reputation online too, and no one wants to see their name painted in a negative light on Google or Glassdoor.
Don’t forget, you can also chat with us via the online chat tool in the lower-left corner of your screen. We love helping companies align their people with their business needs, and we love to share what we know.
