Human Resources 3: Recruit and Test the Right Potential Employees

This continues our series outlining human resource functions you perform in your business. I acknowledge Lori Wadsworth, PhD as the major source of this information.

Your business may begin with one employee, you. However, if you realize your goals for the company, you will hire additional employees. The second person you bring on board may be the most important employee you hire. That person will double your work force and become an extension of yourself. Each person you hire after will extend the reach of your business. We will review the steps used to recruit and test your employees.

8 Biggest Mistakes in Hiring & Recruiting

1. Failing to plan
2. Using a poorly designed application
3. Failure to retain applications
4. Letting untrained supervisors interview
5. Lack of reference and application checks
6. Inadequate or no offer letter
7. Inadequate orientation
8. Doing it all yourself

Recruiting the Right Person for the Job

People tend to hire people they know, like, and trust. Sometimes, that can get you in trouble. Laws, regulations, and litigation created guidelines restricting what you can do. Companies with 15+ employees get held to higher standards than smaller ones. You must ensure that you:

• Do not advertise or say anything that a person could construe discriminatory about race, creed, color, age, sex, marital status, national origin or disability.
• Ensure that your recruitment policies will create a culturally diverse workforce
• Prepare a complete well-thought out description of what you want the person you hire to do, skills to possess, essential functions for them to fulfill, & role to fill
• Use the most effective methods to advertise: newspapers, Internet, radio, or staff

Testing to Verify the Right Skills and Fit

Human resource professionals can now administer a variety of tests to qualify your applicants. You should ensure that the tests pass the criteria for reliability (an indicator of the consistency of the test score on repeated measures) an validity (the ability of a specific test to predict successful job performance):

• Personality/Psychological tests
• Skills tests
• Honesty tests
• Assessment centers/Work samples

Tuesday we will review guidelines for selecting the person you hires