Hiring the Right People for your Team

Hiring the Right People for your Team

06 February 2018

Smaller or family run businesses often find it challenging to recruit the right people for a variety of reasons. They often don’t have the resources or experience to really understand the process of recruitment itself or the full range of qualities they are looking for in a new employee. Part of the reason for this is that businesses can actually fail to understand things from their own personal perspective, including the local culture that new employees will be moving into and the impact that can have.

Hiring the Right People for your Team

One such case is a company that Solved HR has worked with regularly over the last few years. The family-owned business has its own internal processes and had recruited two employees in recent times, only to find they didn’t last much beyond the probationary period.

A new role became available after the company promoted an apprentice and, before they advertised, the directors wanted to be sure they had all the right processes in place for recruitment. Their overall sense was that their recruitment strategy was missing something which was stopping them finding the right person. They called Solved HR in for some advice and guidance.

Finding the ideal candidate for your business is not just about qualifications and experience. It’s actually about finding someone who is a cultural fit to your organisation as well. This can be a big sticking point and means businesses select a person who is highly qualified but is not necessarily going to fit in well with the organisation. The good news is that this is something that can be explored in the interview process. If you are able to understand your company more deeply and introduce the right questions, you can address not only the capabilities but the cultural fit of a particular individual.

Hiring the Right People for your Team 1

Hiring the Right People for your Team

According to Simon at Solved HR, who was helping the company: “It is very hard to assess your own business culture and sometimes it takes an outsider who has a good understanding of the business and its management styles to do just that. The company were selecting people who were very capable of all the role demanded, however, the cultural element and assessment was missing causing a mismatch in their recruitment efforts.”

Communication style questionnaires were used with the existing team to discover the cultural dynamics of the organisation and a small amount of coaching feedback given to explain the kind of person that would excel in this role. In this instance, Belbin team roles and communication style questionnaires were used during the interview process to find the candidate who would be a good fit for the company at this time.

This is not about changing the management style or the cultural environment of the company itself but finding someone who more neatly fits into it. An example would be if you insist on doing a certain process a certain way. The question is how your new employee will react to that. Will they be intimidated or obstructive or will they adjust their own behaviour to fit in with your business?

Cultural fit is a dynamic that many small businesses tend not to think about when recruiting for a role. It’s difficult for those in the mix of the office to answer without being subjective and sometimes it takes an outside agency to take a closer, more objective look at things. Get it right and you end up with someone who fits your business better, fulfills the role and who is likelier to stick around.

If you need assistance ensuring the personnel investment will stick then call us on 0 7714 790024 or email info@solvedhr.co.uk to arrange a confidential chat.