Growing a team is one of the most crucial parts of building a successful business. Hiring too slowly or hiring the wrong people can be painful and derail growth, especially for small businesses. Whilst it might be tempting to use recruiters or agencies, using them will only amplify the costs if ever you make a mistake. In this article we share our 6 step process for making the right hiring decisions and growing a team quickly in 2022 and beyond.
1. Define the gap you are filling
You first need to understand the gap in the team you are trying to fill and how you would like to fill it before making any new hires. Trying to fill in the gap yourself is the best way to understand the complexity of the gap and required skill sets to fill it. By trying the role yourself or with current employees, you might also realise that you can fill the gap with existing resources or with automation, software or no-code tools like Zapier. After this stage you should have a better understanding of your ideal candidate's skillset.
2. Define how the gap will be filled and maintained
After defining the requirements, the next step is to assess if the new role will be permanent, or fixed and full-time or part-time. This is important as it will impact where you should look to find the best candidates. For example, a part-time role might be suitable for an intern who you’ll be more likely to find through University channels. You might want to consider a fixed term role for a gap which won’t need much maintenance after it has been filled in. Fixed term projects can be solved by consultants or fixed-term employees. Making sure you have the right contract is key as you don’t want to be liable for employment taxes or pensions when contracting consultants.
3. Define who can fill the gap
The final step before searching for candidates is to determine if the tasks need to be performed in person or not. This will depend on your company culture and on whether your team currently operates remotely or in-person. It will also depend on the nature of the tasks and whether they can be performed autonomously or collectively. Determining the possible work locations of candidates will ultimately impact the size of the talent pool you can recruit from and how quickly because different regions have different rules and notice periods. You might also want to consider building an offshore team to leverage the benefits of remote and in-person simultaneously. If you are hiring remote or offshore teams you should spend some additional time planning the onboarding. Finally, if your business is a startup, you should clearly state it as you will want to attract entrepreneurial candidates who are not afraid to move quickly and get their hands dirty.
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The final step before searching for candidates is to determine if the tasks need to be performed in person or not. This will depend on your company culture and on whether your team currently operates remotely or in-person. It will also depend on the nature of the tasks and whether they can be performed autonomously or collectively. Determining the possible work locations of candidates will ultimately impact the size of the talent pool you can recruit from and how quickly because different regions have different rules and notice periods. You might also want to consider building an offshore team to leverage the benefits of remote and in-person simultaneously. If you are hiring remote or offshore teams you should spend some additional time planning the onboarding. Finally, if your business is a startup, you should clearly state it as you will want to attract entrepreneurial candidates who are not afraid to move quickly and get their hands dirty.
4. Define the hiring process
Before reaching out to candidates or processing inbound applicants, you need to define the interview process so that you can communicate it clearly to candidates before they apply. Applying for roles can be time intensive and stressful for candidates so being upfront on the number and nature of interviews and potential evaluations will help them prepare appropriately. You should also determine which team members should be involved in the interview process and what interview questions they will ask at what stages.
5. Optimise your recruitment strategies
Now that you have determined the gap you are filling, who’s going to fill it, how, and where, you can start your recruitment search. The most effective way of sourcing candidates is to combine a search with job posting on platforms like LinkedIn, Otta or AngelList. This allows candidates you are reaching out to, to read the job description before responding to you. The second advantage of posting jobs is you might also receive applications from great candidates that are worth interviewing. You can post jobs anywhere you believe your candidates are likely to find them. This can mean Facebook groups, online classified ads or even your local newspaper. You can scale the posting using platforms like Workable and you can also contact the careers teams of Universities for internships or graduate level positions. Applicant tracking systems can be useful at this stage to keep track of applicants and qualified candidates as they progress through the hiring process.
6. Secure your successful candidates with contracts
Once you have interviewed candidates and determined they are a good fit, it is important to give them a first good impression with a smooth contracting experience. Not providing a formal offer letter or contract within hours of making a verbal offer can increase the chances of the candidate dropping out of the process. The best way of assuring you can provide contracts to candidates in an agile way is to already have the required templates at hand. Companies tend to think of the basics such as employment contracts and non-disclosure agreements but will not think of the offer letter or consultancy agreement when sourcing their first templates. Moreover, it is important to make sure that the contract templates you use are up-to-date as they might be incomplete or contain illegal clauses. Subscribing to a platform like Legislate means you don’t need to worry about not having the right contract at hand or using old templates.
7. Retaining and growing talent
Employee retention is critical for supporting your hiring plans. Low retention rates will negatively affect your ability to hire new employees because prospective candidates might be suspicious of the company culture if there is so much turnover. Low retention will also double your work as you'll need to hire for both existing and new roles. To improve the retention of your employees, ensure that the candidates you are hiring in the first place are aligned with your company culture and make sure that you offer opportunities for them to learn and grow. This will in turn amplify your employer brand and make it easier for you to hire employees.
In this article we’ve shared our 7 step process for growing a team and hiring the best talent quickly and cost-effectively. It is important to do the initial research to make the recruitment process effective and have adequate contracts in place to secure candidates smoothly. If you have suggestions on how to recruit faster, let us know! If you are missing contracts in your recruitment process, why don’t you try Legislate?
The opinions on this page are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice on which you should rely.