One of the core aspects of being a business leader is being able to properly form and develop your company’s human capital. An organization will likely run into trouble trying to increase profitability and expand without the right people in place to help it do so. A large amount of innovation and success can come from enriching the skillsets of your team members and encouraging them to expand their creative approach to business problems, but arguably the most vital factor is recruiting the right employees in the first place.
Great leaders don’t just get lucky in having proficient employees working for them; they know what it takes to build teams whose accomplishment potential has virtually no limit. If you want to get the right people on your roster, here are five recruitment habits of successful leaders that will help ensure you aren’t wasting time or money on the wrong hire.
1. Carefully Outline Your List Of Requirements – Before you even sit down and begin interviewing applications, make sure that you are certain of who you are looking for. Rather than just trying to fill an open position with the best candidate, make a list of the attributes and accolades of your dream employee and strive to meet those standards.
2. Determine Why Top Applicants Would Want To Work For Your Company – Why would someone who is in-demand all throughout the industry want to work for you? Unless you’re hiring for a Fortune 500 company, what are you offering to your employees that your competitors, especially more established, larger ones, aren’t?
3. Source Your Best Employees From Within – Before you begin posting ads to job search engines, following leads and sitting down with applicants, stop and consider the talent that you already have. There are countless benefits to promoting from within your organization, including lower amounts of company-specific training being needed and the promoted employee already possessing a working relationship with other team members.
4. Maintain An Open Mind – In many instances, finding the perfect new hire means interviewing a significant number of people. One common mistake that managers make, when sitting down for a long session of interviews, is becoming jaded by the applicants already seen. Take notes and make observations during each interview, but reserve any decisions, even in your head, until the end. Frequently, hiring managers become “sold” on an early interviewer and subsequently mentally shrug-off later applicants, even when they may be better options.
5. Always Keep Your Eyes Open – Hiring is an on-going process, and you never know when you’re going to run into the perfect person that can elevate your company to the next level. Even during periods of time where there are no open positions, it is crucial that you keep on the lookout for ideal candidates. Not only can this encourage you to grow and develop your company when you find the dream employee, it can also reduce the lag between an existing employee leaving and finding a qualified replacement.
Having the right employees in the right positions is crucial for any organization. Too often, business leaders try to make do with less-than-optimal team members and then are surprised when results are not up to the level they had hoped for. No matter how successful your business is, or how well thought out your future plans are, having a talented team behind you supporting your goals is more important.
Edd Rennolls is an expert HR recruiter and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. Edd takes pleasure in helping other companies grow through promoting successful recruiting techniques.
