PPB October 2019

When developing your job post, make sure it includes the following: • Captures the true interpersonal qualities you are looking for. • Is creative and catchy—remember, you’re not alone in your recruiting effort so make sure your post stands out. • Quantifies the responsibilities and requirements of the job. Don’t make candidates guess what you’re looking for. Be explicit. 2 Stop recruiting and start marketing. Certainly, you will need to post your position online. But if that’s all you do, you’ll be lucky to find who you’re looking for. With the U.S. unemployment rate at historic lows, most of the talented individuals you’re interested in are currently employed. This means you need to find themwhere they are and convince them that your opportunity is worth checking out. You have to headhunt. Start mining your connections— both personal and professional. Get your employees, clients and friends in on your search. Structure your headhunting activities. Have your marketing pitch ready for those who express an interest in your position. If you’re looking to hire sales professionals, you need to be able to sell them on your opportunity. Cast a wide net. When it comes to recruiting, you must be willing to put a little elbow grease into your search to market your company. 3 Don’t “go with your gut.” Your personal instincts are not your best tool for making a hiring decision, particularly when hiring a salesperson who is skilled at persuasion. A better recommendation is to hire based on the one-third rule—one-third is the person’s work experience, one-third is the interview and one-third is how the candidate fares in behavioral testing. Professional recruiters are true believers in behavioral testing because the results will provide insight into the candidates’ behaviors, motivators and values along with more data to evaluate them. How a candidate performs in a personal interview is really an indication of only one thing—how skilled they are at interviewing. Remember, they are salespeople and they are trying to sell you, too. Don’t be sold, be smart. Q&AWith Claudia St. John Send your human resources-related questions to ppb@ppai.org. Select questions will be answered in future issues. Q To make sure we hire the right people, we bring in prospects to shadow an employee so that we can see whether the candidate has the right skills/ abilities for the job and so the candidate gets a realistic representation of the job. Is there anything wrong with doing this? A Absolutely not. I think it makes sense for each of you to assess whether the “fit” is right before you hire the candidate. That said, you should pay the candidate at least minimum wage for the time spent shadowing the employee. You can include the pay in the candidate’s first paycheck if he or she is hired, or simply cut a check if you decide not to hire the person. For added protection, you may also want to process a W4 and I9. Q Do you have any creative benefit ideas to recruit new talent? A Here are some things you can offer: additional vacation days, reimburse student loan or credit card debt, allow your employee to work from home once a week, offer a sabbatical after five years of service, reimburse transportation or child-care expenses, pay for continuing education, and, of course, teach your prospective employees about any retirement benefits, such as 401(k). If you do get creative with your If you’re looking tohire sales professionals, you need to be able to sell them on your opportunity. Cast awide net. When it comes to recruiting, you must bewilling to put a little elbow grease into your search tomarket your company. | OCTOBER 2019 | 87 THINK