Part 3 of 3: Questions to Ask to Hire the Right People

In the previous entries, we explored three more questions to ask when trying to hire the right people. This being the last of the three entries, we will talk more about how to implement these employees and retain them assuming you asked the previous questions, and they are the type of employees that you want working at your company. Again, asking these questions will get your candidates hired and allow you to maintain great relationships with your bosses or client companies, whoever you may be working for.

7. How will we get new employees performing to their full potential as quickly as possible?

     There is no doubt that new employees need some time to learn the ropes. However, there are ways that they can learn them quickly. The goal is to have them perform to their full potential as quickly as possible. Putting the necessary administrative processes into action is very important. You want to have a person who is very good at implementing new employees into their systems (whether it be getting them a computer log on or a badge that has access to the building). You also want to make sure you decide where the person is going to be sitting for a significant period of time when they come in. Moving them around from temporary desks is a waste of time and will make them feel uncomfortable. At last, you want to do your best to promote camaraderie with existing employees and new employees. A comfortable welcome will allow the new employee to spend less time at their desk wondering if the employees like them and more time getting to know them and being productive.

8. How will we keep employees for a long period of time?

     It is extremely expensive to hire new employees. Costs of labor for all the people involved are high once the employee is finally hired, implemented and trained. Recruiter fees are also expensive, which is why you want to hire a recruiter that takes pride in finding the right people, and has a record of having client companies retain these employees. First, you want to make sure there isn't a feeling of inequality of pay around employees doing the same job. If there are extreme margins in pay, the employee will not be happy. Obviously, it is best to not have employees discussing their salary, but the truth is that these things do happen. Also, management should always make it their goal to have the company growing. Employees are more likely to stay at a company where they have growth opportunity in significance and salary. You will never retain all employees, but taking these actions can definitely help keep you recruiting costs down.

9. How can we measure our success, keep track of costs and improve over time?

     There is no doubt that you want to keep track of your success in retaining and hiring employees efficiently. Keeping track of this is usually over looked by companies, and not in their top priority list to implement. This being true, you need to keep track of the following metrics to you can measure your own performance: 

PRE-HIRE METRICS

• NumberofHires
• ApplicantVolume
• ApplicantSource
• Time-to-Hire
• Time-to-Fill
• CostperHire
• ApplicantQuality
• Applicant-to-HireRatio
• Offer-to-AcceptanceRatio
• ApplicantDemographicsandEEOStatistics • ApplicantReactions

POST-HIRE METRICS

• ProductivePerformance
• CounterproductivePerformance
• Tenure
• TimeandAttendance
• HiringManagerAttitudes
• EmployeeAttitudes
• TrainingPerformance/Time-to-Competence • TurnoverCosts
• EmployeeDemographicsandEEOStatistics • InternalPromotionsandTransfers
• TurnoverReasons 

Part 2 of 3: Questions to Ask to Hire the Right People

In the first part of this three part entry, we showed you three questions to ask to hire the right people. You may have to ask yourself these questions, or your candidates. What this all goes back to is understanding exactly what the client wants in an employee and finding the All Star candidate. Here are three more questions to ask that will help you be a successful recruiter.

4. What roles will each individual involved in the hiring process play?

     In the hiring process, there are many different individuals involved no matter how much you as the recruiter try to simplify it. There will be the hiring manager, the manager who will be receiving the candidate upon hiring, the candidate him/herself and of course, you, the recruiter. As the recruiter, you need to be a master of communication. You may end up telling the candidate, your senior partner and the hiring manager at the company the same story three times. You have to make sure that you tell it clearly all three times and do not cut any corners. You also have to make sure you are always communicating FOR THE MANAGER AND CANDIDATE, trying to understand any changes in their process that they may not be telling you. Recruiting requires a large amount of instincts, and if you feel like a candidate is backing out or the hiring manger's needs are changing and they may have forgot to tell you, you are probably right. Here is a great list of recruiter's responsibilities in the hiring process:

-Provide tools to define job competencies, skills, and qualifications

-Provide tools and guidance to hiring managers and employees on using social relationships to find candidates

-Maintain talent pools with potential candidates

-Use job postings, search tools and other methods to find candidates

-Screen out clearly unqualified candidates

-Recommend qualified candidates to hiring manager for review

-Provide interview guides to hiring managers and employees

-Communicate to candidates why and how selection tools are used; answer candidate questions

-Engage qualified candidates to keep them interested in the job

-Sell candidates on the benefits of the company as an employer

-Provide advice on strengths and weaknesses of candidates

-Provide guidance to candidates and hiring managers on steps required to bring a new employee onboard.

-Collect data on performance and retention of candidates after they have been hired

5. How will we find candidates?

   The next fee a candidate pays the recruiting company will be the first. That being said, if you have tons of jobs open and no candidates, you will definitely be out of luck. There are many ways to find quality candidates and having too many candidates and picking out the All Stars is never a bad thing. Here are a couple of the many ways you can source candidates:

-Job Postings: Although it can be costly to post jobs, many active candidates will look on websites for open jobs and actually contact you. It is not a bad idea to take a portion of your budget and use it to post jobs online.

-Social Networking: LinkedIn and Facebook are getting larger and larger each day. Using these tools as a recruiter is never a bad idea, as our company has found quite a few candidates through LinkedIn. Have an active Facebook page, and post on LinkedIn to stay active in the social media world. Paying for a premium LinkedIn account is also something to look into based on the budget of your company.

6. Once we have these candidates, which ones should we actually hire?

   There are many requirements one must fulfill to actually have their candidate hired at the client company. From resume screens to drug screens, a candidate must really meet every check point. To get your candidate hired, it is pretty simple. You need to keep a close relationship with the client company, and have the BEST candidate. Use the above methods to find the most quality candidates possible, and you will probably have a pretty good success rate. At Worlco, we definitely pride ourselves on picking out the stars in the technology business!

Always Remember 9/11

Eleven years ago today, tragedy struck America. It was a time no one will ever forget. Anyone over the age of 18 remembers where they were when the World Trade Centers were destroyed, and I doubt anyone will ever forget. On one of the most beautiful days of the year, two planes hit both World Trade Centers at full speed, causing them to crash to the ground. One plane also was flown into the Pentagon in Washington D.C.  as well as one crashing off course in a field. That plane was supposed to hit the Presidents vacation home. Firemen, EMT's, Police Officers and other professionals gave their lives, and many of those who lived are still affected today. There are many people to thank and remember on the anniversary of this event. At Worlco, we will never forget this tragedy, and on this special day, we see it fit to devote this post to those who died in the attacks, gave their lives to save others and those who made sacrifices that still effect their daily lives today. God Bless America.

Part 1 of 3: Questions to Ask to Hire the Right People

In this three part blog entry, we will show you the top nine questions to ask when trying to hire the right people.

With recruiting becoming harder and harder, and quality candidates becoming more and more scarce, it is important to ask the right questions to find your client the best in the business. The decision to hire is an investment a company takes very seriously, and if you stick to these questions, as well as your gut feeling and recruiting skill of building relationships and maintaining contact, you will find your candidates being the ones getting hired and staying with the company they were placed at. This keeps your client, and your wallet, happier than ever.

1. What types of jobs are we hiring for?

         There are many different types of jobs that recruiters hire for. Filling  a financial analyst position and filling a position for a law firm are two very different jobs, and they need to be recruited for differently. In our case, we are always filling technology jobs. Even if your company specializes in a certain industry, there are still countless amounts of different jobs within that industry. You need to understand that hiring for a CIO position and a entry level developer need to be gone about completely differently. The CIO position should be recruited for aggressively, and many current or potential CIO's would want the idea of them leaving their current company completely confidential; whereas the entry level position can be recruited for more openly, because the candidate will probably be right out of college, or coming from a company without available positions that this candidate can advance to. Examples like this are important to keep in mind, especially when looking at positions with small but important differences.

2. How many people does the company need, and when do they need them?

        It is not good to show a company candidates weeks apart when they need them for a project two weeks from now. The company is likely looking to nail down candidates as soon as possible for this upcoming project that the upper management is probably putting pressure on them for. On the other spectrum, it is not good to show a company 5 candidates in a week when they are looking to start a project two months from now. Chances are they will forget they even interviewed your candidates, and move on to new candidates, so you did work and received no results or money. Also, always keep in mind how many people you think the company will need. If they are being unrealistic and trying to hire 5 people for a 10 person project, they will likely ask you for 5 more candidates later on. Plan for that, and have these candidates in your back pocket when they ask you for them.

3. What sort of people do we need to hire?

       This is all about knowing your client companies needs. If they are looking for someone to sit behind a computer for a project and pump out code every day, you can pretty much hire anyone who has the necessary skills. If they are looking for a project manager, it is probably going to be someone with the necessary skills and someone who has stellar people skills and can communicate with a team. Find the right person for the job. This means you have to rely on your old fashioned recruiting skills and get to know your candidates on a personal level.

Look for part two of this blog post next week...