What a good hiring practice is?

When your company is growing in its initial years, it’s critical to have a good recruitment process to ensure you are hiring the best talent. In small companies there is no room for mediocrity at any level. Each and every employee has to perform well, be participative and present their views as and when required.

Its an old proverb “A players hire A players, B players hire B players” is so true in real sense, as by mistake we can hire the wrong people and hiring B players can be fatal to a startup, as witnessed.

The most common hiring mistakes I have seen people make are:
- hiring people like them
- hiring in a hurry to get someone into the job
- hiring for the sake of getting someone, when a new project comes in
- hiring someone and then realising that the person was not worth paying so much
- hiring someone who is just okay
- the candidate should not be hired just because he/she is referred by an important employee in the company
- the cabdidate should not be hired just because he/she is a nice person, possessing the skills to perform well is utmost important
- hiring without listening to other people’s(colleagues)input

But never mind, as everyone makes some or the other hiring mistakes and if you have realized that you have made mistakes of such sort in the past or are still living with them, do not panic. Its never too late. The most important thing to do is to recognize it quickly and get rid with the mistake on but there’s a process that can help reduce the number of mistakes which I’ve witnessed here in. Most of the points are obvious everyone knows about them, but often do not follow.

The steps are:

- Write a job description. Be clear about the attributes that we are seeking in the ideal candidate and make sure the interviewers have a copy of this job description and have read it even before interviewing

- The interview team should be amongst the cross section of people who will work with and around the new employee

- Set up the interviews, make sure the candidate knows who they are meeting and what for. He/she should be made clear about the profile for which he has come

- Follow up with each interviewer as soon as the interview is over, so that we can to get their independent, fresh reactions

The bottom line in a startup is to hire people who are really smart. IQ and attitude matter more than any other aspect in a young company. If your employee is smart and motivated they’ll learn what needs to be done, especially if you are in a new market where you are having to figure it out as you go along. If I have to choose between IQ and experience while hiring, I will definately hire IQ every time.

Written by: Digvijay