All but the very largest businesses can become very “people-dependent”, therefore small changes in staffing can have much larger effects on the business.

Here are some helpful tips on hiring the right people.

1. Start with a comprehensive job description for the position. Also determine the career path and level of training you are willing to provide.
2. Almost completely disregard a person’s references and resume, other than to put them in the generally qualified category for further evaluation. References provided by the applicant are going to give you nothing but the very best qualities and resumes are well known to exaggerate a person’s real accomplishments.
3. Before taking a lot of time with candidates, have them tested for various competencies, including analytical skills. Can the candidate solve problems, are they extroverts and you are looking for someone with communication skills? Testing will quickly find personality traits that match your needs.
4. Only hire the smartest people, assuming they have the basic skills to do the job. Make sure they have problem solving skills and can adapt to constant change.
5. The smaller the organization the more important it is to have a cultural fit, have a few existing employees interview the candidate.
6. Provide the new hire with early hands-on training and a well-defined on-boarding process, this helps make sure you have the right candidate.
7. Put all new hires on an “up to 90-day probation period” and watch closely. You can usually find a bad hire within a few weeks.

Beware of these People.

1. Beware of people that have been doing the same exact job for a very long time. Why? Because it may have taken them a very long time to learn simple, basic tasks. Secondly, they may be unwilling or unable to accept constant changes. We all admire employee loyalty, just make sure this loyal candidate also passed through the first 5 steps above.
2. Beware of hiring “victims”, these are people who never take any responsibility for their own actions. Everything that ever happens in their department, office or business was someone else’s fault. They couldn’t do their job because of others, constantly. If in doubt, read the book called The Oz Principle.
3. Beware of people who have inappropriate or strange postings on their Facebook, or LinkedIn site. I would use anything here to hire a candidate, but I would surely use it as a reason to disqualify a candidate.

If you follow these guidelines you might even find and keep a valuable employee.