How to find the right person

 

The first place to look for the right candidate is to search within the company.  Most HR departments insist on this anyway.  HR will most likely perform a pre-interview for both internal and external applicants.  In addtion to our course, a great way to find the best employees within the company is to instill the Cornerstone OnDemand succession planning system. The good news is if you implement all that is taught throughout this course, you should be known as a good manager that people want to work for.  You would post your position internally for a period of time, and then look outside the company if you could not fill the position.  Hiring from within is the best bet, as you will already know the person’s character, background, and realize that they already know the company’s goals.  It also reduces costs.

 

You will also have the benefit of talking to that person’s supervisor or manager.  They will be able to answer any concerns you might have.  Keep in mind this manager might oversell this employee because they want to get rid of that person.  You will then inherit a problem, and also realize you cant trust that manager ever again... 

 

The next place to look for a possible candidate would be through any or all of the following.  The costs will be in parenthesis:

 

• Online job finder (minimal cost) such as monster.com or careerbuilder.com.  You just go to the Internet site, sign up, and fill in the necessary info.

 

• Post on the company’s website  (none to very minimal cost) – the possible candidate will also have a chance to see what your company is all about.

 

• Newspaper ad (minimal cost) – Post an ad in the classified section of your local newspaper.  You will need to provide the title of the position, a brief opening regarding the company name and what they are all about, the qualifications needed including years of experience, the salary if desired and contact info.  Even if it costs a little bit more, make the ad big enough to catch their attention.  Try not to make it look crammed up.  Many times this same add will appear on the newspapers web page as well.

 

• Recruiter or Headhunter (medium to high cost) – This is a person or search firm who you ask to look for the right candidate based on the job description criteria you gave them.  In most cases they will take a one-time fee of a certain percentage of the yearly salary once you hire the candidate.  For example, they might take 5% of a $40,000 a year salary, which would be $8,000.  This would be considered paying the recruiter on a “Contingency” basis.  The other payment method would be considered on a “Retainer” basis in which you pay the associated percentage whether you hire someone the search firm found or from another source.  In this case the recruiter gets paid either way.

 

• Networking (none to very minimal cost) – Word of mouth or certain blogs on the Internet can be very effective, and inexpensive.

 

• College or trade school bulletin board (none to very minimal cost).  This is a simple way to get perspective students in the same field as yours to apply.

 

• Employment agency (medium cost) – This is an agency that assists job seekers in finding work.  Companies such as kellyservices.com and appleone.com are a couple of online examples.

 

• Radio or TV advertising (medium to high cost) – This will depend on your location and if it is viable.

 

• Temp (Temporary) agency (low to medium cost) – An agency that places jobs for temporary work.  This is a good way to determine if the position is really needed, and if you do not like the person, you can ask the temp agency for a replacement.  Some agencies would expect an extra fee if you hire the person full time.  There could also be a waiting period before the person is eligible to be hired full time.  This is also a good idea if you are busier only during a certain period of time such as Christmas.  An example of an online temp agency would be roberthalf.com.