If you want to make sure you meet success as a business and attract new customers you need to make sure you can recruit and keep the best employees. This may sound simple, however, it can be quite a difficult process. 

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You need to have methods that help you to find the right people for the role as well as the right people for your existing team. This is particularly important if you have a successful team already.

On the other hand, any potential employees also have every right to judge you as to whether you are going to support them and be the right fit. For this you need to look at the best practices for onboarding new employees and how to retain them. 

Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can get the best employees and keep them:

Be Clear About Your Wants 

When it comes to advertising the available job role, it is essential for you to include as much information about the actually a job role as well as the type of person that would suit the role. You should include things like: 

• A description of the job role 
• A description of the ideal person for the role 
• Details of the qualifications or experience that is needed or preferred for the role 
• Training that will be provided 

Be Careful With Your Interview Process 

Interviews can be seen as tedious and time-consuming, however, they are an integral part of the recruitment process. Unless you take you time to interview your potential employees you are never going to get the right standard for your business. Although it may take time, money, and effort, it is essential. 

You ideally want to hire the most qualified and the most suited person to be in the team and work well. You are able to keep your team strong and continue to hit or exceed targets when you produce good results from interviewing correctly.

One thing you should consider is to interview more than once. How can you possibly find out what you need or want to know about a candidate in just one interview? You could include things like:

• An initial telephone interview 
• An in-person interview to learn about skills and qualifications
• A final interview to get to know them as a person and provide them with an opportunity to get to know the business

You don’t have to hold all three interviews for the wrong person for the position. You may not offer a second or third interview depending on how they get on or how you get on. Make sure you highlight the interview stages clearly to start off with good communication.

In order to hold a good interview you need to:

• Put the applicant at ease
• Ask open-ended questions 
• Listen more, talk less
• Take notes
• Understand what you can’t ask

Look At Skills And Abilities 

It is essential for you to carry out an ability evaluation on each person applying for the role you have. Through this, you will be able to find out how much experience they have and what training may be needed in the future. It’s up to you whether you are looking for someone who has years of experience or someone who is just getting started in their career. Sometimes hiring the most skilled and experienced candidate isn’t the best, especially if they have practices and another businesses protocols programmed into the way they work. It may be easier to skill up another candidate who is learning while learning about your business. 

Have Clear Communication 

Communication is key for any business, particularly when it comes to recruitment. You need to make sure you let the candidate know what is going on and what is expected of them. For example, if you are planning on role-playing scenarios in the second stage of the interview or are going to ask them to sit an assessment, make sure you inform them in advance so they can prepare themselves for this. 

You should also be ready to take on board any communication you get from them. It could be that they have some great ideas on how they can impact the role that they are applying for, or they have concerns over the training that will be provided. Make sure you make it easy for them to communicate their needs from the role and you as an employer rather than just going through what you expect. An interview with and new employee should be seen as a meet-in-the-middle opportunity, not all one-sided.

Experienced Doesn’t Always Mean Best

Just because someone has tonnes of experience, it doesn’t mean they are the best person for your position. You should look for someone who is a great fit too. Some business owners may think that experience is more important than anything else, but these may be managers who never go on the shop floor, or never mix with their employees so, they never feel the atmosphere they have created. 

The experience that one candidate has might not mean they are the right fit for your company. Instead of choosing candidates based solely on experience, have a look at how much potential they have within your business. A great example of this is asking them where they see themselves in their career in the future. If this is something that fits your business, then you might have a good match.

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Once you find the right people for your business, you want to make sure you keep hold of them. This means you need to have a pleasant and welcoming working environment. Your employees need to be happy and well looked after. You can do this by:

Think About Offering Flexible Working Options 

Nowadays it is quite common for businesses to offer flexible working. Whether that is hybrid working, extended hours, remote working, or providing office space. Your employees benefit massively from being able to have a better work-life balance and in turn, you get employees who are loyal and grateful for the flexibility. It will support thier mental health and also keep them productive. A great way of doing this is to set deadlines, the minimum working hours needed and targets and then allow them to work as and when they need to hit this mark. 

Look After Employees Physically

We are all well aware that we need to work a massive amount of hours from our time, which is unavoidable if we want to make sure we can survive. But did you know that many employees sit at their desks for upwards of five hours at a time? Prolonged sitting and looking at a screen and wreak havoc on someone’s health and cause well-being concerns. As a great employer, it’s your responsibility to make sure your employees are kept healthy while in the workplace. 

You can help this by arranging things such as:

• Regular screen breaks
• Time to take a 15 min stroll around the office 
• Options for doing paperwork to get away from screens 
• Proper chairs and desks for doing the job 
• DSE assessments 
• Vouchers towards eyecare 

If you take steps like these you will be able to help prevent eye strain and back problems as well as keep up morale.

It’s not always easy to find the right people for your business and it does take time. Looking at the tips above, you should be able to find the ideal candidate for your future roles. Do you have any others tips that could help? Please share them in the comments below.