Ideally a company should hire when they are not pressured to find someone. In my opinion the best time to search for a new staff member is when you require new labour but you have time to bring that employee on to your team. In the past we have used a recruitment company and this has worked out especially well if you are not pressured to hire. Recruitment agencies are excellent at weeding out the bad candidates and allowing the good candidates to rise to the top. Our last few hires have been done this way and we have been able to be patient and bring on excellent candidates that exactly fit our needs and our culture. For small to mid-size businesses I feel hiring staff that are consistent with your culture is extremely important. One employee that does not fit your culture can upset the apple cart, we are very conscious of this aspect in our hiring.
Another element we have used in the past that has been very effective has been personality tests. Candidates don’t like them because they are difficult to figure out what the test is asking, but good tests give you an excellent idea of what candidates are good at and what they need improvement on. The test that we use allows you to discuss the results with a trained consultant that can advise you on questions to ask candidates if there are concerns and items you may want to focus on for improvement.
Hiring is a difficult exercise, its worth it to spend the money on the above tactics as a good employee can make you a lot of money and a bad hire can cost you a great deal of money. Thanks for listening and good luck!
