4 Things to Think About When Hiring

There’s a lot of work that goes into finding potential employees. Once you have a list of viable candidates, it’s time to start the interviewing process.

Here are some important steps to keep in mind:

-Who will be involved in the interviewing process?

Make sure to plan in advance as to who will be involved in the interviewing process. It’s crucial to determine what each person’s role will be and at what point they will become involved.

-Make sure that your decision makers are on the same page

It can be very frustrating for candidates when there are multiple people involved in the interviewing process and they are NOT in agreement about the position or requirements. If your team is not in agreement, it can drag out the interviewing process, candidates will likely begin to lose interest and you may not even end up with a qualified candidate.

-Have a formal job description

Most candidates like to have a written job description to refer to. If you don’t have a formal job description, create one with the answers to the following questions:

• • Duties and responsibilities of the job. This is a pretty simple one most of the time. When you are creating a new role, sometimes this question can be a little more difficult. You may need to ask yourself what you want this person to accomplish and then think through how they will get there.

 

• • What are the travel requirements? You don’t want to invest a lot of time into a candidate who cannot travel if it’s a requirement. You also want to be sure that he or she will have a reasonable commute.

 

• • Description of property or portfolio (location and size) Candidates want to know what property or properties they will be managing. In the case of development and construction roles – what projects are underway, what is in the pipeline and where are they located. If the portfolio is growing, what areas will the portfolio expand into?

 

• • Flowchart: Who will this report to? Companies may not always know the answer to that, but it’s important because that supervisor will play a key role in the interviewing process.

 

• • Staff: Will this person oversee anyone? If so, do any of the staff members have a weakness that this new person needs to work on or improve?

 

• • What are the greatest challenges of the position? You may want to find someone who has a strength or experience in an area where you need the most help. Too, if a challenge does exist it could also impact how interested potential candidates are. Save yourself and the candidates time by volunteering the challenges up front.

 

• • Minimum requirements? What are the “must have” qualifications that each candidate must have in order to be considered?

 

• • Preferred skills? What will set an average candidate apart from a superstar?

 

• • What characteristics or traits are important? Are you open to relocating someone? (The industry standard is that when hiring an employee from outside of the area, the employer will pay to move their household goods from point A to point B).Don’t expect someone to pay for their own moving expenses. Aside from the moving of household goods, the relocation package could also include temporary housing, a house hunting trip with spouse/significant other, etc.

 

What will your interviewing process look like?

Determine ahead of time who will initially screen the resumes. Also, how many rounds of interviews will take place? If the candidates are not local or schedules don’t permit an initial in-person meeting, conduct a phone or video interview in order to keep the process moving along.

Will there be any background testing / pre-employment screens?

Does anyone on your team have a scheduled vacation or travel that would prevent them from participating in interviews?

How soon can you start the interviewing process?

Commit to having a process that moves quickly and is efficient. A long and drawn out interviewing process will likely result in losing candidates, especially those who are actively seeking new employment opportunities.

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