Do You Have Hiring Duties but No Hiring Experience? (Part 1)

While all medium- and small-sized businesses will have dedicated HR and hiring staff members, small businesses tend to run a little differently. In these environments, dedicated HR people are unlikely. You might have an HR consultant knocking around for a few hours a week, or a consultant on the end of the phone line, but HR in these small environments is often carried out by people with limited HR or talent management expertise.

I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with this approach: it’s just the reality of talent management in small businesses. Staff members with no formal recruitment training or experience can find themselves with recruiting duties. To help address this problem, I have outlined a few user-friendly recruiting tips for people with hiring duties, but with no formal training or experience.

1. Turn Your Business Associates into Talent Scouts

It might appear to a non-recruiter that the best way to find new workers is via job boards. Despite these technological advancements, those on the inside know that the best way to find talent is still through word of mouth.  So, the first port of call when looking to find new talent is to ask your staff and to phone around your network to see if they know of any candidates to fill your role. You might want to provide a financial incentive should they refer someone to you, and a bonus if you hire them. Turn your network into talent scouts.

2. However: You Shouldn’t Ignore Job Boards

You’ll most likely need to make use of more than one hiring channel to generate a shortlist. Research your job boards carefully to ensure you choose the one with the best reach into your target market. You might want to call each job board directly for more information on their audience reach so you can assess whether it meets your needs.

3. Can You Promote from Within?

Studies tell us that internal recruits outperform external recruits, when placed in similar roles. If you are looking to fill a new position, you may be doing your business a disservice if you don’t consider promoting an internal employee first. Give the promoted employee a safety net, perhaps, by filling their old position with a temp, so they can revert to their former role if the promotion doesn’t work out.

4. Your Ideal Candidate Might Be Different from What You Think

Studies show that most hires fail because of poor attitudes and cultural fits, not a lack of technical skills. You should choose candidates who have the right job-specific skills, of course, but you should also emphasize candidates who have positive, progressive, engaging attitudes with good interpersonal and teamwork skills.

5. Your Job Advert Needs to Stand out from the Crowd

Job boards are very competitive, and you need to take steps to make your job adverts stand out from the crowd. One of the top ways to stand out is to include a salary range, as most candidates want to see it, and most employers don’t include it. If you can afford it, have your job advert written by a marketing copywriter who specializes in writing attractive job descriptions. You’ll find thousands on freelance sites like Elance and oDesk for a modest price.

If you found these tips useful, please look out for part two of this article, which will contain five more hiring tips for non-recruiters.