How to make sure you hire the right people to grow your business

Ask any successful businessman and he will tell you that hiring the right people is crucial for any business that wants to succeed. It is for this reason that employers need to have a formal recruitment process in place when they are looking to bring on board new staff. When entrepreneurs dedicate time and energy to finding the right people, they improve their chances of hiring the best talent out there while avoiding costly and painful mistakes at the same time. Many employers rely on their instincts during the hiring process. While it is not entirely wrong to rely on your gut, recruitment decisions need to be founded on solid, objective factors. Here are five steps to help you hire the right people for your business:

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Find employees who match your company's culture

If you want to make the right recruitment decision, you need to know what your company needs. Start by figuring out your company's mission and vision. Once you have a clear insight into your company's requirements and culture, you'll be able to easily narrow down on applicants with a similar mindset.

Design detailed job descriptions

If you don't have a clear understanding of the kind of work you want from you potential employees, you will have a tough time recruiting the right person. Create job descriptions for each profile in your organisation that reflect the duties, level of skills, and experience necessary. Ensure that potential candidates know what they are getting into before bringing them on board.

Give candidates an assignment to complete

A very important factor that more and more entrepreneurs are catching up on is giving candidates an assignment to complete that will test whether they possess the skills required for the job. For example, if you're hiring a content strategist, ask applicants for the job to make a content strategy for one or two brands to see if they have what it takes to do the job.

Don't focus just on the CV

Often the candidates that are fabulous on paper aren't half as good on the job. It is therefore important to not get impressed by past work experience alone and get to know the candidate's interests and ambitions before sending them the offer letter. For example, if working with a big company is the candidate's dream, a job at a startup may not make him happy in the long run.

Look into the references provided

A lot of candidates provide past references of the companies they worked at. Running a reference check is one of the best sources to get information on the candidate. Employers can also consider doing some independent research by seeking out people who have worked with the candidate in the past.

Make sure you have strong and equitable reasons for hiring somebody. Keep finding ways to make good candidates want to work for your company as quality talent is difficult to come by.