What NOT to do when Hiring Employees
The tech industry is booming, and companies are scrambling to find the best talent. But how do you go about hiring employees for the tech industry? It can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not familiar with the field. In this article, we’ll discuss some tips for hiring employees for the tech industry, regardless of your company size or stage of development. Let’s get started!
Your plan for employee hiring
While hiring strategies may differ from company to company, they typically include the following steps:
- Identify a need. Especially at a startup, you don’t hire an employee without having a clear need. Determine what role is most important to fill.
- Craft a job description. Once you have a title, a list of responsibilities, and skill gaps to close, carefully write a job description to attract suitable candidates.
Check our guide on writing the perfect job description here.
- Source candidates. Publish your job description & advert to job portals, recruitment sites, & social media networks. Also, consider referrals & peer-to-peer networks as a method of sourcing candidates.
- Review & screen. Review applications & resumés and start filtering your list to the top candidates you want to consider for the open role.
- Hold interviews. Conduct interviews with shortlisted candidates. Determine in advance the number of rounds of interviews you plan on holding.
- Check references. If you don’t already have references from your candidate(s), request & check them as a final measure.
- Make an offer. Extend an offer to the top candidate. This letter should include the position’s salary, benefits, and start date.
- Onboard the new employee. The onboarding process is often overlooked but can make or break the employee experience. Provide proper orientation & training for your new employee.
- We have written a comprehensive 10-step guide on the best recruitment strategy for making intelligent hires swiftly & successfully here.
What NOT to do when hiring
- Don’t: wait for the perfect candidate
Hiring the perfect candidate is tough! But if you wait around for these ‘purple squirrels’, your team will be stretched thin, less productive and morale could suffer. Instead, hire someone who meets most of your key requirements and train them further to fit the role.
- Don’t: rush the hire
You may be under pressure to fill the vacant role but that doesn’t mean you should hire the first candidate that comes your way. Training a recruit needs time, effort and money so you must decide carefully.
And if you make the wrong choice, you’re back at square one. Hold an extra interview if you must. The role may not even need full-time manpower, so consider a gig worker or an external contractor until it’s time to hire for a permanent position.
- Don’t: drag the interview process
The internet is awash with stories of job seekers becoming frustrated with companies that turn the interview process into a marathon. Candidates are pulling their names from consideration at firms with interview rounds as high as nine! Drawn out interview processes can negatively impact their interest in the role.
If your recruitment process makes the applicants feel like they are being strung along, this could potentially harm the chances of attracting future talent. This indecisiveness provides the people with an inside look at your company culture and drives them further away.
- Don’t: be biased while recruiting
Companies continue to struggle with the lack of diversity among tech professionals. Starting from your job ad to interviews, the choice of words greatly matters. If you are not careful, you may hurt the sentiments of various groups of the candidate population, including women, older individuals, and ethnic minorities. Adding gender-neutral language to the job description can embolden people who don’t typically consider applying to your company.
Ensure you eliminate any discriminatory criteria & make it inclusive. Be mindful of your internal bias when writing your ad. Diverse teams perform better. Give all applicants an equal, unbiased opportunity to showcase themselves. This ensures you get the best talent from all walks of life.
- Don’t: oversell the company culture
To keep talent, you have to walk the talk — be consistent in what you promised candidates when they joined your organisation. Over-promising and under-delivering can only lead to them jumping ship, leaving you to count your losses. After all, people are what makes companies sink or survive. Don’t make things sound a lot better than what you can offer.
- Don’t: take onboarding for granted
Welcoming and integrating your new employee is an integral part of the hiring process and must be considered in advance. A thorough onboarding process will transition your hire from candidate to employee.
Provide necessary resources & training to help them understand their responsibilities, feel comfortable and gain the tools & knowledge to succeed in their new role. The first 100 days of a new recruit are the most crucial.
Conclusion
So, you’ve decided it’s time to bring on some new talent. That’s great! Hiring the right employees is key to any successful business.
But where do you start? How can you identify quality candidates? And how can you make sure the interview process is effective? We’re here to help.
The experts at Anzy Global have years of experience in finding and screening top tech talent. Get in touch with us today for a 30-min, no-obligation consultation.
