Hiring Good Employees: Why Performance Trumps All

Hiring good employees is yet another task that falls on the shoulders of the overwhelmed small business owner, who may be unprepared for and inexperienced in how to make the best possible hiring decisions. But making sound hiring decisions is critical to the success of a small business or professional practice, because resources are often scarce and every single employee must bring significant value.

Many small business owners who are faced with the task of hiring good employees, take a shoot from the hip attitude, thinking they can make a sound hiring decision based upon gut instinct.

Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t often work, because a small business relies upon each and every employee to be able to accomplish their most crucial goals, despite the lack of resources or the untold obstacles that might stand in the way.

If hiring good employees is your goal, here are some tips that can help:

1. Before running an ad or reaching out into your network to find someone, first focus on what qualities, characteristics and type of accomplishments your future employee must have achieved in order to be successful.
2. Pinpoint the expectations that you have for this employee and understand why these expectations are so important.
3. Clarify the goals that this employee will be required to achieve and their importance to your business.
4. Interviews are important, so don’t wing it. Instead, craft a short list of interviewing questions that will help you determine whether the applicant is right, without wasting a lot of time.
6. Enlist several of your trusted partners or staff to take part in the interview. Have each focus on different areas, and get on the same page BEFORE the interview takes place so that you’re clear on exactly what you’re looking for. AFTER the interview, talk it through to get everyone’s impressions.
7. Focus on the most significant accomplishments the applicant has achieved. Find out as much as you can about these accomplishments, the results they achieved, how and why they did it, what obstacles they encountered and overcame, why it was important to their company and all of the circumstances around it.
8. Base your final hiring decision on what you’ve learned about the applicant’s accomplishments, rather than gut instincts. Look for qualities such as resourcefulness, determination, focus and teamwork.

To make sound hiring decisions, focus on performance.

Concerned about hiring good employees? Schedule a business coaching consultation.

Susan Martin, Business Leadership Coaching