Finding And Hiring A New Employee

A person on your staff just gave a two-week notice, and you need to keep the wheels of your company turning. As a manager, it's up to you to find a replacement. You'll need to interview, hire and put the new person in place. It's a big undertaking, especially if you've never done it before.

The biggest issue is actually finding the right person. With so many people trying to get jobs, it's difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

"The challenge is that people can say anything on a résumé, but when you hire them, they turn out to be mundane," says Tom Schaber, management consultant; author of "The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management - Taking the Stress out of Managing Salespeople;" and speaker for HPSS Global.

"The labor market is shrinking, so it's hard to find the right person," adds Scott Gunderson, professor and co-chair of business at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount.

Evaluation

Once you've found candidates, their skills and abilities should be evaluated. Schaber advises using assessment tools.

You can use the assessment tool on an existing worker to establish which traits are needed for the job. And then the candidates take the tests to see how well they do in the areas you've determined to be important for the job.

"When you do things on the cheap, they come out badly," says Gunderson.

Schaber adds that hiring shouldn't just involve the manager looking for a new person. Others need to participate as well.

"When interviewing, have other people in the company also interview the potential hire, especially someone in your group," advises Schaber. "Too often the manager gets blinders on and doesn't see a glaring issue that someone else would see."

Fitting In

The responsibility for installing a new hire lands on three sets of shoulders: The manager, the group and the new hire.

The new hire should also have a coach and a mentor - but they are two different people.

"A mentor helps with your career and can help guide you through your career," notes Gunderson. "A coach can help with the day-to-day work."

"You want someone from the group to help the new hire be integrated into the group," adds Schaber.

For the best fit, make sure the new hire feels useful.

Says Gunderson, "Make sure they feel like they're contributing to the team."