Hiring new team members is exciting! It’s great to bring on new employees who often bring different experiences and talents to your company’s portfolio.
Peake Media, Club Solutions’ parent company, knows this first-hand. We’ve recently brought on three new employees to our fast-growing team. And although we couldn’t ensure they’d be a great fit, we do have a process for interviewing we believe helps weed out anyone who might not jibe with our core values.
Here is our step-by-step process for hiring, which you may be helpful for your business in its hiring process.
Be clear from the very beginning — in the job posting — what the position entails.
If hiring a staff writer, we’re clear in the job posting that writing experience is absolutely necessary. In your case, if you require a specific degree or certification, make sure that’s clear. Instead of being ambiguous, try to make the job posting as detailed as possible. This will help prevent people who are unqualified for the position from applying.
Set up an initial phone call before bringing them in to meet with current employees.
If a person does not do well on a phone interview, you can almost guarantee they won’t do well in-person. As a result, we always do an initial phone call to see if the person has a friendly tone and can answer initial interview questions. After all, our job is mainly conducted via phone calls, so the initial call is extremely important.
In addition, have the person call in at a specific time, versus you calling them. This will give you a signal as to if the person is punctual. If they call in 15 minutes late, that’s a red flag.
Have them meet as many current employees as possible.
If they pass the initial phone interview, bring them in and have them meet with as many current employees as you can. Everyone has different perspectives, so they may notice some positive or negative qualities that you don’t catch. Sometimes, the more opinions you have, the better. At Peake Media, prospects who’d be working in Louisville would meet with every person in our Louisville office.
Finally, find out if they align with your core values.
At Peake Media, we have each prospect we’re seriously considering fill out a document that states how they connect with each of our core values on a personal level. This practice has proved to be a great way to gauge a person’s sincere interest in working for our company. Each applicant we’ve hired recently has taken more time on their answers and offered less canned responses than other applicants. So far, it’s been a great tool for weeding out those who just want a job, versus a career.
What other hiring tips can you share?
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
