Every small business owner is likely to have to take on staff at some point or another. This, of course, is a positive thing, as it shows that your business is expanding, and the more your business expands, the more profit you are likely to be generating. However, taking on staff can be a relatively daunting process if it’s something that you are unfamiliar or inexperienced in. But not to worry. Here are a few steps that you can take in order to ensure that you recruit your staff the right way!

Advertising Positions Effectively

The first step on your journey to recruiting new employees is to start advertising positions. Now, this can be relatively difficult, but you have a few different options on your hands. If you’re operating a brick and mortar store, it’s relatively traditional to stick a sign in your storefront window advertising available job roles. On top of this, or alternatively to this, you can use online job advertisement sites and also advertise positions on your own website. Make sure to list the job title, job responsibilities or what the role entails, previous experience or qualifications desired, and a means of contacting you. You can request that applicants drop resumes directly to you, or you can provide them with an email address to send them over digitally.

Conducting Interviews

Once you have received resumes, it’s time to start deciding who you want to interview. You can pick between one resume and another by focusing on listed areas, such as education and candidate experience. Once you’ve whittled down who seems appropriate for the position, it’s time to start conducting interviews. This will give you the opportunity to meet applicants on a face to face basis and get to know them a little better. You will be able to ensure that they have a professional presence and a positive attitude. You want to make the interview as positive an experience as possible for all involved. The better an experience an applicant has in their interview, the more likely they are to accept a job offer later down the line.

Employing Individuals

At the end of your interview process, you are going to eventually come to a decision in regards to which individuals you want to employ and which you are going to have to reject. Let’s start with the positive. Offering a position to an individual is relatively simple – they have applied for the job, so they are likely to accept it. Send a congratulatory email or make a phone call to offer them the position. You can use this opportunity to come to final agreements about contracted hours, rates of pay, and other terms and conditions of the individual’s employment.

Rejecting Individuals

Now, it’s never pleasant having to reject someone when they have their heart set on a given job. But it’s inevitable part of any recruitment process, and something that you are likely to have to step up to at some point or another. A mistake that many small business owners make is simply ignoring rejected applicants once they have decided that the individual isn’t the person that they want to take on for the job.

It is absolutely essential that you do not do this. This person will be waiting to hear back from you and may be postponing their job search until they hear further news. You don’t want to waste their time. If you know that you are not offering them a position, let them know, as this will allow them to start seeking alternative work elsewhere.

Not only are there moral implications behind notifying rejected applicants, but there are logical ones for the sake of your business too. As we have already highlighted, you want every applicant to have a positive experience within the recruitment process of your company, as you never know when they might be customers or when they might come in useful later down the line. If you provide this individual with a rude and abrupt end to the recruitment process, they will not have a high opinion of you and may speak negatively of your brand to others. They may stop buying from you themselves, which will reduce your profits.

What’s more? If the applicant you have chosen to take on doesn’t turn out to be all that you hoped they would, or if they turn around a reject your job offer, you may want to reach out to rejected candidates. Candidates who felt wronged at some point in the process are likely to reject your offer too, meaning you have to carry out the entire recruitment process again, which can prove costly.

So, formulate a polite rejection email, or (even better) give rejected applicants a call and let them know that you appreciate their application but you have simply found someone with more experience or who is better suited to the role.

These are a few steps in the recruitment process that any budding employer should familiarise themselves with. Remember to place focus on making the experience as positive as possible for everyone involved. Not only will this ensure that you recruit high-quality staff members, but it also means that your business will be presented in the best light to everyone involved.