When you’re ready to hire a new employee, it can be a daunting task. It’s important to make sure you hire the right person, with the right qualifications for the job, and the right personality for the workplace. The goal of hiring is to attract candidates who bring value to, and help advance, the company. Parts 1 and 2 of this article will give you some general guidelines to follow throughout the hiring process.
Let’s start with the first three steps.
1. Ensure you’re ready to hire
Read our article, Before You Hire, which guides you through this process.
First, you must be able to afford to hire. This doesn’t just mean the salary, though. There are several other costs to keep in mind, including: marketing the position, payroll taxes, benefits, background checks, onboarding expenses, professional services, insurance, and more.
Second, you should determine what you need from an employee. Write down the basic duties you need them to perform, such as day-to-day tasks, short- or long-term projects, etc. Consider this the first draft of your job description, the purpose of which is to help organize your thoughts so you can make the right hiring decisions for your company. From this you should be able to determine the appropriate type of employee you need: full-/part-time, freelance, or temporary.
Once you’ve figured out what you need, you can move on to Step 2.
2. Write the job description
Now it’s time to edit that first draft. Elaborate on the position’s responsibilities by building from those basic duties you wrote down. Next, determine what qualifications (education, certifications, and experience) and skills are necessary for an employee to perform the job. Remember, these should be the minimum qualifications and skills necessary. Why? Because we want to put our ideal qualifications and skills under “Preferred Qualifications”.
We recommend every job description you write include preferred qualifications, for two reasons. First, it helps make the review process easier because you can sort and review any candidates who meet those qualifications first. Second, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to hire someone great. The ideal candidate is rare, as rare as a “purple squirrel”. Perhaps you’ve heard this term used before in recruitment?
Although often left out, we suggest that you include the salary that will be offered. There may be room for negotiation, but you don’t want to go through the entire process, before finding out a candidate wants more than you’re willing or able to pay. More likely, however, is that great candidates will pass on your position because they can’t immediately determine it’s a good fit for them.
You should also include your submission preferences, with any necessary contact information, such as if you wish them to e-mail a resume or fill out a job application through your applicant tracking system (ATS).
For more tips about writing a job description, visit our article Writing The Job Description.
3. Advertise the position
There are many ways to advertise your open position. Start with word-of-mouth and announce the opening to current employees and your network to encourage referrals. You can also post the job on your company website and through social media accounts. These are two free and easy ways to get the word out, and may prove effective for you. Often, however, the fastest and most successful options are the paid ones which follow.
Contact any trade or professional associations your company is a member of, as they often provide job marketing services. They are especially useful when seeking candidates for technical positions. You can also try advertising with periodicals or newsletters your company receives, and the local newspaper can be very useful when hiring for general positions.
Contact local colleges or universities. Many schools have a career services department, which can help advertise your position to current students and alumni. If you have several openings, or ongoing hiring needs, these schools may also hold career fairs for you to participate in.
For tough to fill positions, a recruiter can be your best friend. If this is a route you’d like to take, please visit our site for a list of agriculture recruiters.
Of course, we saved the best option for last: the AgPloyment.com job board! At a low cost, you can advertise your open positions online and reach a wide audience, focused on the agriculture industry. Our job alerts system will send job seekers an email about your position, if it meets criteria they have indicated an interest in. We even include pre-loaded screening questions to help you review applications. Check it out today, and start reaping the benefits!
Stay tuned for part two!