How to Hire the Best and Brightest Talent for Your Small Business

For your business to reach and exceed expectations, it is important that each and every candidate coming through your door for a job interview has the qualifications–and then some–to help your business excel.

That being the case, what are you doing to make sure that all prospective employees are ones who you would feel 100 percent confident and comfortable with hiring?

When it comes to hiring the best and brightest talent, there are safeguards that should be in place (you should recognize them) so that you’re more likely to get it right.

To ensure you’re only hiring the very best talent for your organization, look for these qualities:

Personality.  Experience is very important when considering anyone for a job, but their personality, and whether it is a plus or minus, simply can’t be taken for granted. For instance, you could hire the brightest talent in the world (see more below), someone who knows all the ins-and-outs of their job responsibilities. But what if he or she is simply not a good fit when it comes to office camaraderie? The importance of being a team player can never be overlooked, so make sure the candidate has a winning personality (yes, that is not always easy to tell in just an interview or two) above all else.

Talents. When it comes to a candidate’s talent, you need to thoroughly research their background and experience. Don’t automatically assume the candidate who has lesser experience is automatically one to discount. A job applicant may be hesitant to go into detail about an internship, figuring you won’t be interested in it. As it stands, that internship could have provided the candidate with great experience, experience that was much more hands-on than the experience of a candidate who was supervising others within a department.

Be clear in your job description and when you meet with candidates about the talents you’re looking for. However, if one candidate seems really good for the job, yet is missing one of your five key talent requirements, should you hire them and train them in the one area they lack? This is another thought for consideration that you need to work out before offering someone a position.

Drive.  Another major area of emphasis should be a candidate’s drive. It can be difficult in just one interview or two to tell if a future employee is going to give you 100 percent each and every day they come to work. That said, you can’t hire employees who will essentially sleepwalk through their jobs, especially if they will be dealing with customers on a daily basis.

The ideal situation is hiring those individuals willing to go above and beyond what you ask of them. This could be as simple as staying late at the office when needed, pitching in to help coworkers who are in a jam, or actively contributing at company meetings. The productivity of your employees can oftentimes mean the difference between you having an average business and one that is far and above whatever the competition has to offer.

In your quest to hire only the best and brightest talent, be sure to review your hiring procedures on a regular basis. Doing so will allow you to be better prepared each and every time someone walks through those doors for an interview.

Remember, anyone of those individuals could be the next person added to your payroll, so get it right the first time around.

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