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Five rules of wise recruiting

The hiring process can be tedious, but applying these five tips from Johnny Laurent, general manager of Sage Employer Solutions, as posted on HR.com, can help you find the right person for the job.

Look back to go forward. Review your past recruiting procedures and practices. Know what worked, what didn’t, and understand why. Developing a strategy based on tried and true techniques – as well as applying those that are new but helpful (like social networking) – is the best approach.

Hire for attitude, train for skills. Companies have the ability to train for certain skills. Software and protocols change, but you can’t change a person’s attitude. Hire people whose attitude fits your company culture; if need be, you can train them to acquire the skills your company needs. New hires should have the ability to learn, but must be willing to do so.

Past performance predicts future behavior. Knowing how someone performed or behaved in the past is a strong indicator of what they are likely to do in the future, so questions for references should be based on behaviors. Continue asking questions until you are comfortable you know how the potential employee is likely to act in a given situation. Find out who people are, not just what they can do.

Become the employer of choice. If you are the employer of choice, everyone wants to work for you and no one wants to leave. Your recruiting budget decreases because word-of-mouth is your best advertising.

Create a book. A reference guide is your best tool. It has information about everyone in your organization, including people who work for you and people who don’t but you wish they did. An employee’s likes and dislikes are chronicled. What a current employee wants in their next job is noted. A good reference guide is a record of what’s happening inside your company and your competitors; a little black book to give the recruiter an edge on their competitors.

Want to know more?
To learn more about good hiring techniques, visit www.sagenorthamerica.com

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