Your guide to hiring the right person, every time

How to find the right person for the job

Self-made millionaire Brian Tracy once said, “As a business owner or manager, you know that hiring the wrong person is the most costly mistake you can make.” It’s a truth that we all know and understand in the hiring world. If we want our companies to grow, thrive, and succeed we absolutely must hire the right person for the job from the get-go.

Hiring the right person is a time-consuming task. Posting jobs, sifting and sorting through resumes, conducting job interviews, and making a final hiring decision all rests on your shoulders. It’s easy to daydream about finding and hiring that ideal job candidate, but it’s often challenging to actually find that person – unless you apply the following rules to your hiring process. These guidelines will help you hire the right person for the job:

1. Be specific in what you need and what you want 

It’s absolutely critical to define the job and to determine what type of person will be successful at this job before you do anything else. Consider making an avatar of your ideal candidate that you can compare applicants to and reference throughout the process.

2. Diversify your team

Seek out diversity when you hire. The more points of views and perspectives you have the more adaptable your company will be. It may even be helpful to identify where your team is weakest (i.e. organization, ownership, etc.) and seek out candidates that excel in those categories.

3. Hire for personality, not for skill

Personalities are hard to change, but skills can be learned. If you hire the right personality for the job, it’s easy to teach them the skills they need to be successful.

4. Tap into your network 

The people you find through employee referrals or personal recommendations generally know what to expect of the job and the company. Consider using an ATS to automate the process of paying employees for hired referrals!

5. Be patient

If you can’t find the right person for the job, wait patiently or reassess your hiring strategies. Don’t hire hastily even if you need a person in the seat right away. It always backfires.

6. Do a skills assessment

Before you hire someone ask to see proof that they can do the things they say they can do. Samples of writing or case studies of a project they initiated and ran will show you a lot about their skills.

7. Make the hiring process fun 

Ensure that the hiring process isn’t difficult or boring. Try to engage the candidates and personalize the experience. Remember that this is their first impression of your company.

8. Don’t hire alone 

While you may think that you’ve found the world’s perfect employee, always get a second opinion from other people on your team before you offer them the job. If you are thinking about an ATS, choose one that does not charge by administrators so you can add all your managers and let them all weigh in on the hiring process and candidates.

9. Utilize reference checks

Reference checks provide valuable insight into what a candidate is really like to work with in a professional setting. For more tips on what to ask, check out our post on reference checks.

10. Make an offer they can’t refuse 

Once you find the ideal candidate, don’t let them get away! Offer them an employment package complete with a competitive wage plus perks and benefits that they’d be a fool to turn down. If you’ve taken the time to truly find the right candidate, this one should be a no-brainer! The people you hire can make or break your company. Hire right the first time and everything else will fall into place. Now get out there and start hiring!

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