In Part 1 of this series of columns focused on hiring, I outlined three considerations before you make the decision to bring on a new staff member. Once you've done your preliminary work, the conundrum becomes, "where do I find the right person?"
It's important that you approach finding this new hire with the right mindset. All too often, the prevailing thought of a first-time employer is that of, "no one can do it as well as I can." You're quickly setting yourself up to be disappointed; instead focus on finding a person who may have the capacity to make up the areas where you are not as strong.
Start with outlining the traits or skills you determine are non-negotiable:
Does the person need to have specific skills or experience?
Do they need to have specific credentials or certifications?
What personality traits do you collaborate with best?
Keep in mind, skills are often teachable; values such as integrity, honesty and loyalty are not. You're going to be training and working alongside this person and they will be interacting with your livelihood: your clients.
Also be sure to consider how much time you're willing to spend on training. If you want someone with experience, be mindful that experience can often come along with ego; you want someone who is confident yet humble enough to be managed and developed, not overly confident or resistant to feedback.
Once you're ready to start the search, you'll want to put together the outline of your job post. Use the non-negotiables from the list above to create your posting. You can even use the post as a chance to pre-qualify a candidate. If attention to detail is important to you, you might require that they respond a certain way (for example, "Please answer the following two questions below [include questions that will give insight to their qualifications and character] in no more than one sentence and send your response to jobs@mycompany.com. Please do not send your resume until requested."). Chances are, you'll receive paragraph-long answers with resumes attached from applicants who aren't paying attention to the details. You can choose to use this as a pre-qualifier or not; but it may save you the time of an unnecessary interview.
Once your post is ready, here are few places where you can begin your search:
Certification associations -- many organizations offer free job postings and searchable databases of currently certified professionals.
Local colleges/universities
LinkedIn -- of all social media outlets, I have found that LinkedIn is one of the most effective networks. Facebook is also a great outlet.
Word-of-mouth -- tell your clients and local business networks that you’re hiring.
Local/regional professional trade magazines, newspapers or publications.
Your clients! You may have a client who is a fit -- particularly for an administrative position.
It's worth reiterating what I mentioned in Part 1 -- "Hire slow, fire fast;" find the right person by using the right hiring process. And don't forget to listen to your gut feeling -- more often than not, our intuition carries more weight than what is written on a resume.
