Hiring Tactics for Business Leaders

Whether you’re a solopreneur looking to build a strong business or part of an established organization eager to grow, it’s pivotal that you surround yourself with great talent. When you have people you can consistently rely on to do their jobs efficiently and to a high standard, you can accelerate toward your goals at unbelievable rates.

Of course, there’s a difference between wanting to hire the best employees and knowing how to do so. Even if you manage to attract the right individuals, you have to somehow identify the winners among a big crowd of applicants. Check out these widely applicable tips to help you successfully navigate the hiring process and form a more lucrative team.

Who to interview

Once you post a job listing and see the applications start flooding in, you might feel a little overwhelmed. The business and technology experts at EarthWeb report that an average of 118 people apply for a single job opening. So how do you decide which are worthy of an interview? There may be dozens with a well-written cover letter, relevant experience, and the appropriate skills, but you can’t interview them all—unless you want to make staffing your full-time job. Instead, your first round of interviews should comprise just a small number of candidates, each of whom would be an ideal fit for the job, at least on paper.

To narrow your selection, write up a rubric of qualifications, noting which ones are simply preferences and which ones you won’t budge on. You also need a keen eye for red flags and green flags that may indicate the truth behind an application’s facts and figures. Red flags that reveal a potentially unfit candidate might include a laundry list of short job stints or a lack of industry-relevant experience. Green flags, meanwhile, include major awards and accomplishments from their education or a previous job. (Just remember to reach out to applicants’ professional references to confirm these claims.)

After you single out the most impressive crop, invite each one in for an interview, where you can start to discern the intangibles that will lead you to the right hire.

What to look for in an interview

Applicants aren’t the only ones who need to prepare for interviews. As the one doing the hiring, you should enter these meetings with a clear picture of what signifies a “good team member” based on the position being filled. Take these examples:

• A good salesperson should seem confident and gregarious. Look for applicants who are conversational, maintain eye contact, and ask you pertinent questions in return.
• If you’re filling a data processing, accounting, or bookkeeping role, identify those who pay close attention to details and think carefully about their answers.
• To find a good fit for a creative role, assess candidates for a strong imagination and passion for their art form. Do their eyes light up when they talk about their prior projects?

It’s also crucial to keep your company’s culture at the forefront of your mind during interviews. Try to define what makes your brand and workplace unique in one sentence; this will help you zero in on those candidates who would fit in naturally. Are they an excellent collaborator who would contribute well to your team’s brainstorming sessions? Are they a passionate goal chaser who’d thrive in professional competition and blow past their quotas? Trust your instincts, and be ready to pass on people who don’t seem right, even if that decision is based primarily on a gut feeling.

What to ask during an interview

Now that you know your objectives for these meetings, it’s time to polish your interviewing skills. Most applicants will likely have prepared some impressive stock answers or even white lies to get past common prompts like “Tell me about yourself” or “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?” You need to ask the right questions to sidestep such falsifications, flattery, or exaggerations. Consider ones like these:

• If a friend were to ask you, “What is [your company name] and how does it help clients?” what would you say? Ask this to test an applicant’s preparedness.
• Walk me through the story of your career. Why did you take each job, what was your biggest accomplishment at each, and why did you choose to move on? Their answer will display their passion. As important as it is for a candidate to have the right skills, it’s just as essential that they care about the work they do.
• If I asked your former boss what your biggest weakness is, what would they tell me? With this phrasing, you remind them that you’ll check references, encouraging them to answer truthfully.
• Which thought leaders do you look up to? This uncommon question will reveal the applicant’s business values, such as innovation, productivity, and cooperation.

These prompts are meant to inspire in-depth conversation rather than rote yes-or-no answers, so if you’re short on time, save half of them for a second round of interviews. Either way, always make sure to ask each applicant the same questions to put them all on a level playing field and better allow you to compare their personalities, experience, and skills.

When to make an offer

After the interview process, you may be faced with several qualified candidates but only looking to hire as few as one. A favorite strategy of mine for narrowing the field is using the Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment, a research-based personality test that reveals behavioral traits and key motivations. Send this to each interviewee, then use the results to help make your final decision about who would fit your company’s culture and the position’s demands best.

However, be careful not to put all your stock in one candidate—a competing employer may snatch them up before you do, or the results of their background check could filter them out. Instead, you should review the applications, interviews, and personality tests to establish a ranking system. That way, you’ll know who to turn to next if your top choice slips through your fingers.

It’s a fact of business that good workers will come and go. But if you arm yourself with these techniques, you can repeatedly find great talent, extend offers, and welcome great teammates aboard to help your company continue driving toward success.

TAKE ACTION:
Apply these tips to track down and identify the best applicants to hire.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Luke Acree is an authority on leadership, a lead generation specialist, and a referral expert who has helped more than 100,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses grow their companies. He hosts Stay Paid, a sales and marketing podcast, and has been featured in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Foundr.com.