4 Important Things to Do Before Hiring New Employees

December 19th 2019 at 3:07pm Published by firstdownadmin

You’re thinking of hiring more employees. Maybe you only want to bring on one new staff member, or maybe you’re hoping to add a bunch of people to the team. Whatever the size of your hiring goals, you need to think about these important things before offering candidates the job.

1. Look over Your Finances

The first thing that you need to do is look over your finances to see if hiring a new employee works with your budget. You will need to consider their pay, their benefits and any additions like uniforms, equipment and training.

Before you convince yourself that your budget is too tight, you should remember that employees will bring about more productivity. So, they may cost you more money at first, but they can make you more in the long run.

2. Access Funding

If your budget is too tight, you can still plan to hire new employees. All you have to do is get some long-term funding so that you can go through with the interview process, hire staff-members and pay them properly without worrying about your finances.

The best way to get long term funding is to skip the big banks and grant applications and go to an alternative funder instead. You won’t have to take weeks and weeks of your time to wait for an approval. You can fill out your application online and get your approval on the same day. And you can access that funding within 72 hours.

Here are some benefits that come with our long term funding options for businesses across the United States:

Flexible repayment schedule
Smaller risk of rejection
Easy application process
Continued support and consultation

3. Pre-Screen Your Candidates

You’ve put out a job-call and your inbox is filling up with applications. You’re going to have to start sorting them into two piles: the potential interview pile and the rejection pile. First, read over the resumes and cover letters to see if they meet the general qualifications and requirements. Anyone that doesn’t meet a majority of those demands should be put in the rejection pile.

Check References

Contact the candidate’s references by telephone or email. This is a good opportunity to see if their resume lines up, or if they’ve fabricated vital information. You don’t want to find out that they exaggerated a three-month internship into a year of a full-time job.

Do a Social Media Search

Then, do some research online. Check your candidate’s social media accounts to see if they bring up any other warning signs. Don’t go too far — you shouldn’t have to scroll to their high school years to find something. Browse briefly through their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Here are some of the social media problems that could get them off of the interview list:

Posting offensive and discriminatory content (racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc.)
Posting negative or rude comments about their previous employer
Posting sensitive information about their previous employer
Posting about participating in criminal behavior

Do a Phone Interview

Another way to filter out candidates is to conduct quick 5 to 10-minute phone interviews. The brief conversation will give you an idea about what the candidate will be like in an in-person interview. So, if they seem like they’ve exaggerated their qualifications, or they don’t answer questions politely, you know that they won’t be a good fit for the job.

Run a Background Check

Turn to a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) to run a legal and effective background check. Before deciding on this move, you should know that The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that candidates give their consent before running the check and they have the right to be told if any information in it has been used against them.

Here are some things that you will find out:

Identify verification
Employment verification
Education confirmation
Criminal record
Credit history

Background checks cost money. If you don’t want to pull that money from your budget, you should consider a short term funding to cover the costs of all of the applicant checks. This will be helpful when you’re going through a large number of candidates.

4. Prepare for Interviews

Job applicants aren’t the only ones who should prepare for interviews! Employers need to sharpen their interviewing skills before seeing the applicants for the first time. You’re the representative of the business, after all. You want to show them that this is an excellent place to work so that they’ll hope to get a callback.

So, you should avoid common job interview mistakes that you would consider to be deal-breakers for your candidates. Dress to impress. You can’t expect them to put on their freshly dry-cleaned business-wear and then show up in a wrinkled suit or pair of jeans. Try to look polished.

And come to the interview prepared. Have a copy of their resume, cover letter and any other application information printed out on the table in front of you. Have a pad of paper nearby so that you can jot down notes. You can also use it to write down a list of interview questions ahead of time so that you don’t draw a blank half-way through the experience. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

The experience isn’t over after the applicant leaves. Right after you’ve called your preferred candidate and they’ve accepted the job offer, you need to follow-up with all of the interviewees. Not only is it polite to do so, but it’s also a great business strategy. These applicants will be more likely to try for another position in the future.

First Down Funding

Whenever you want to make a big change with your business, you should turn to the small business funding experts to give you the financing and support to make it happen. You shouldn’t have to put your ambitions on hold just because you don’t have the funds available. We want your business to thrive.

As you can see, employees aren’t the only ones who need to prepare for the job hunt. As an employer, you have to run through important tasks on your check-list to make sure you can hire the right candidates for the job.