How to hire the right person: Hiring plan strategy and example

An effective hiring strategy needs to be both time-efficient and comprehensive.

Making the right hire starts with deciding what kind of hire you need to make:

Multiple hires – if your business is growing quickly, you might be looking to make multiple hires at once in order to support your growth

One-off hires – you might be looking to hire a fresh graduate, who you can train and mould to your business needs, or someone with a little more experience

Graduate placements – if you are entering a busy period, you might be looking to hire graduates on a placement-to-perm basis

Think about which is going to work best for you at this time. Once you have your end goal in place, decide on your time frame.

Do you need someone within a certain time frame?

Are you expecting rapid growth in the coming months, and need to hire graduates now in order to support this?

Identify how many hires you will need to make, as well as your ideal start date.

If you’re not sure how long it should realistically take to hire graduates, research the industry standard.

Having a clear hiring strategy in place will ensure that you are attracting and hiring the right candidates from the start.

In order to make the right hire, you need to define what that person will be like.

Start by listing the duties and responsibilities of the job or jobs you are looking to fill, ensuring that these are as detailed as possible.

Setting out a clear list of role requirements will ensure that the person you eventually hire has the experience and skill set that your business needs.

Then, make a checklist of must-haves, and good-to-haves.

These will relate to both the job role itself, and the kind of person who will work well in your team.

This could include things like ‘Must have – 1 years’ experience in a sales role’, ‘Preferred – experience working in a startup environment.’

Setting these in place will allow you to easily communicate what you are looking for and what will make a standout candidate.

This ensures that you are making the right hire for your business quickly and efficiently.

Once you have thought about what will make the right hire, it’s important to mirror this in your job description.

Start by ensuring that the necessary skills and requirements are clear on the job description.

If you are working with a graduate recruitment agency, they will handle all the job posting and advertising on your behalf.

It’s still important to make sure that all the key information you want is on the description you send them.

This will help to streamline the hiring process, and ensure that you are able to make the right hire for your business.

In order to hire the right candidate, it is also about making sure your package is competitive.

Specifying a very low salary will limit both the quality and the quantity of applicants.

Equally, offering a salary that is far higher than the industry average is risky.

You risk not finding the right candidateto fit with your company culture.

Research how much you should pay candidates, depending on whether they are a graduate hire, or a senior hire.

This is a key part of your hiring strategy and will help you to hire the right people for your business.

Look at the market in order to work out the salary bracket you should be offering. Also research which other perks will help you stand out from your competitors.

A key part of hiring candidates is considering your company culture.

You’ll have already discussed the qualities that your ideal hire will possess.

But there are ways to measure these throughout the assessment and interview stages, such as:

• Having several team members interview a candidate, in order to gain a more rounded view of how well they will fit in to your team.
• Taking them out for a drink or coffee with members of the team after the interview to gauge their cultural fit.
• Asking the right interview questions, including those pertaining to their life outside of work – What else are they interested in? What other skills can they bring to the table?

If you’re working with a recruitment agency, they will have done much hiring process for you.

They will shift through the CVs and vet the top candidates.

The CVs you receive will match what you have said you are looking for in terms of skills, experiences, and knowledge.

What is down to you, though, is understanding what else they have done beyond their CV.

In your interview with a candidate, focus on learning about intangible skills and qualities that may not be visible on their CV.

For example, you may find from speaking to a candidate that they show a real sense of drive and ambition that you weren’t aware of from reading their CV.

As important as a CV is, you’ll gauge a real sense of whether they are the right hire through interviewing.

Person-to-person assessment is such an important part of an effective hiring process.

If you’re unsure about whether a candidate fits the bill, a short test or task can be a good way to decide.

This could include a problem-solving simulation, a role play or a written test.

Challenging potential employees can often reveal aspects of their personality or skill set that will sway your opinion.

It can reveal qualities that you weren’t previously aware of in your hiring process. This helps you to ensure you are hiring the right candidate.

The hiring process doesn’t end once you have made a new hire.

Onboarding is essential to making sure that these hires remain engaged, motivated, and prepared to succeed in their new role.

If you hire graduates who are then left feeling lost and unsupported, you’re likely to lose them just as soon as you hired them.

So, if you’ve spent the time planning how to make the right graduate hire, onboarding and retention should also be a key part of your hiring strategy.