Steps to Hiring a New Employee – team smiling-with handshake

Hiring new employee is a very challenging task. In most cases, a number of human resource managers end up hiring people who do not have the ability to deliver the required services to the company. It is an important process which involves a chain of events whose outcome directly affects the kind of employees who will be hired. It is never a single event- it is a process. All companies would wish to hire people who will boost the performance and the productivity of the company at all costs.

There are both local and international laws which outline the criteria under which the recruitment process should be conducted. For instance, employing kids is prohibited by law. You need to know the law in its totality to avoid any chances of being taken to court. Most employment standards indicate the number of hours any employee should work, minimum wage, retirement age and taxation just to mention a few. All your actions must be within the law.

Hiring mistakes

There are a number of factors that you must avoid at all cost to get the right employees. As you design your steps to hiring a new employee, you need to know that all the hiring mistakes fall in two major categories: hiring an individual who should not have been hired or not hiring individuals you ought to have hired. To avoid being in such a situation, you need to consider the following key elements:

Impression; in most cases, employers use only one characteristic or attribute to make decisions which has always been a major setback in the recruiting process. Of course, the first impression tells a lot about a person. However, it must not be used to make the final judgment. This process should be conducted in an open minded manner. For instance, you may judge someone to be unqualified due the negative attributes they portrayed on their first day, yet they could be qualified and fit for the job.

Hiring yourself; a number of employers fall in love with their own personality and admire people whom they assume are like them. If a company has all employees with the same level of reasoning and thinking then it becomes almost impossible for it to succeed. Try to recruit people with different personality, thinking and creativity. It will be easier for such a company to progress and eventually succeed.

Rush-to-hire; business is very dynamic and at times, there could be an increase in the level of demand. Relaxing or ignoring certain stages in the recruitment standards will make you to ignore certain factors which are essential in this process. Stick to the set standard despite the increase in demand.

Poor communication; failure to ask the right questions or to hear what the candidate is saying will only lead to misinterpretation of the recruiting process. During interviews, some employers only focus on what they expect to hear from the candidate. You need to have an open mind and be sure to keep the expectations of the job succinct.

Important steps to hiring a new employee

Now that you have known all that you should avoid, you need to develop a comprehensive, professional and effective hiring system. More importantly, you need to stick to this system at all cost. You need to:

Develop hiring plan; define both the nature of the job and the selection procedure. You need to know the reason why you have to hire; define whether the position is permanent or temporary; the position profile; give a clear job description; identify people who should make hiring decision; define how the new employees will be absorbed etc. It should be a comprehensive hiring game plan.

Define the job; be sure to list all the necessary qualifications, performance expectations and the behavioral requirements of the employees. This will act as a clear guideline which you will use to evaluate the candidates.

Determine the expected output; you need to review personal attributes of all candidates. This will ensure that all the new employees will be able to meet all the requirements for the job besides being integrated in the business culture effortlessly.

Time to hire; you need to know the exact time to hire employees. This will avoid chances of having excess manpower. You should only hire when there is need of an additional manpower.

Do you have a recruitment plan? A good plan will attract qualified candidates for the position you shall have advertised for. You must highlight selling features of the vacant position. You should have a clear adverts which states all the details of the job.

Collect applications; collect all applications and let the human resource department weed out those candidates who do not meet the mark. You need to have an honest and genuine human resource team who will be fair and have the capability of making sound judgment based on the qualification of the candidates. Screen all candidates to get the best who will be invited for an interview.

Interview; at this point you need to confirm whether the candidates are qualified for the position by assessing their behavior and skills, general character and attitude. Conduct a thorough interview to select those who deserve the position.

Although the following steps to hiring a new employee may look simple, a number of employers find it very difficult to adhere to it and they end up hiring unqualified individuals.

Steps to Hiring a New Employee photos

Hiring process checklist

Hiring process flowchart

Recruiting new employees