How to Always Recruit the Right People into Your Business

Recruiting growth-oriented employees is a cornerstone for business success. But that’s easier said than done—it takes time and collective decision-making to bring on the right people who will support your company’s goals and values.

Whether you are at the start-up stage or you have an established business, here’s what I’ve learnt over the years about how to always recruit the best people:

Select candidates based on who they are

A new trend among entrepreneurs is to hire based on a person’s character and skills rather than on their academic or work achievements.

Do not get this wrong—some level of academic qualification and relevant experience is necessary and will vary with the job requirements. But you will miss out on talented people when your sole focus is on ‘paper qualifications.’

During the entire recruitment process, what you really want to look out for is a candidate who is enthusiastic about growing with the company, has a sense of personal responsibility and is able to fully apply themselves to get the tasks at hand accomplished.

Interview candidates in a group setting

Group interviews are increasingly popular at the screening phase of the recruitment process. They are an excellent way to assess how candidates interact with others including with current employees and team leaders.

This is also a great platform to identify potential leaders and candidates’ interest in working in a high growth company.

Include current employees and management in the group interviews to get a holistic feel for how the candidates would fit in the actual work environment.

Group interviews have a way of filtering out a significant number of candidates who applied for the position. For whatever reason, most candidates do not usually show up to group interviews but this helps you to separate the wheat from the chaffs, so to speak.

Ask the right questions to find a good match

There is no right or wrong questions to ask potential hires. However, asking the most important and appropriate questions is an art and a science.

To ask the right questions, you need to have very clear organizational values, goals and a vision. This way, you are able to align a candidate’s skills, interests and personality with your values, goals and vision.

A start-up or entrepreneurial business is not necessarily the safest environment for an employee due to the inherent uncertainties. However, asking questions such as why the candidate is interested in your business and assessing their growth-orientation can help you determine if they are a good match.

Spot top performers with take-away assignments

The conventional practice is to administer post-interview tests to weed out good fits from the not-so-good ones. These tests might be appropriate for measuring standard aptitudes and personality but they do not say much about a person’s ability to deliver actual results.

Giving candidates take-away assignments to work on from home simulates the actual work environment where there isn’t any unnecessary pressure when working on a project. It is best to administer the assignment before the formal interview process.

This is a great tactic because it not only makes recruitment more efficient; it also allows you to select candidates based on their actual talent and capacity to deliver results.

Test if they fit your company culture beforehand

A candidate could have the right qualifications on paper and perhaps prove their ability to deliver results on time. But this does not mean they are a perfect cultural fit.

Being able to blend in and embrace the company’s culture is utterly important for the growth of the business and productivity of the employee. You can teach a person about internal workflow processes but you cannot teach them how to be respectful to their teammates or to be kind to clients—they are either able to fit into a culture of respect and commitment to customer service or they are not.

Bring candidates into the actual workplace and allow them to interact with the employees and management. Get feedback from your team on how each candidate performed during the interactive session to determine those who are a cultural fit.

Recruit the Right People

Think you do not have the luxury to wait for the right people for your business?  Consider the losses you could incur from rushing to hire—whether it’s the dishonest employee, the negative one or the one who just will not commit. Recruiting the wrong match could hamper growth, productivity and put a dump on morale in your company. On the other hand, the right talent is precious and rare yet it could skyrocket your business to heights you never imagined possible.