Recruitment is always a long-winded affair. There is no easy way to do it, and it’s never cheap. But you can reduce the stress, the time it takes and the cost if you know what you’re looking for in the first place.

What You Should Be Looking For When You're Hiring

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Many employers make the mistake of using the recruitment process to refine their requirements. This wastes a lot of your time. You may even start trying to create some sort of Frankenstein’s monster of an employee from all the parts of your best candidates! Needless to say, nobody will ever live up to all those expectations and your time will have been for nothing.

What Will They Do?

This is the most obvious question to ask. What is it that you want the incumbent to do for you? Unfortunately, it can be the hardest question to answer when you don’t have a clarity for the role. Perhaps you want a salesperson? But what exactly are they selling? And who are they selling it to?

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You might want them to sell your brand as the best provider of a particular product and then upsell each customer to the highest value item. That’s a lot more specific than just ‘salesperson.’ Go further – ‘The salesperson will actively seek new B2B clients that have interests in the automotive industry.’ Now you can start finding sales people with a B2B background and understanding of that market.

What Can They Do?

This is the part where you need each candidate to qualify themselves. A proven track record and current certification are essential. Of course, you need to know exactly what you want them to be doing for you in the first place. You don’t have to specify a particular qualification or University. Perhaps all you need is a willingness to learn or to study on the job. Will your candidate be happy to undertake something like a course in operations management online, or to qualify as a marketer within three months?

Identify what skills and qualifications they must already possess to start the job. Define the proven experience they must already have. Clearly, state when you’re willing to make a provision of further specialist training to get the right person in for the job. This may be useful if you’re looking for a particular personality fit, or you’re not ready to pay full price for the full package just yet.

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Who Are They?

At the end of the day, we spend more waking hours in the workplace with our colleagues than we do with our families at home. You need to know the people you spend so much time with are people you can get along with. You might share particular values or ideals. Or maybe you both have a love for cats! Whatever it is that connects you should be a part of that working relationship too.

Another reason for finding out a bit more about their personality or home life is to ensure the person you’re hiring is upfront and honest in nature. The last thing you need is to hire someone who has misled you about their credentials or experience. How do you know when you’re with the right candidate?