5 Hiring Tips to Help You Attract World-Class Talent

If you’re serious about building a world-class company, you need to hire the best people available. It’s one of the most crucial parts of any business, and if you get it wrong, your entire operation can suffer from your poor decision-making skills. To make sure you hire the best talent available, you have to think about more than just their work experience or their qualifications; there are some key things that you need to watch out for when it comes to bringing someone new on board. Here are five hiring tips to help you attract world-class talent to your team.

Seek out people who are already involved in your industry

If you’re trying to find talented employees for your organization, start by finding people who are already involved in your industry. Talk with them about their experiences, learn from them and see if they have any ideas on how you can improve. Finding great people who fit into your culture—people whose talent matches their passion—is one of a founder’s biggest challenges. And, more often than not, it’s someone who is currently working at another company who can help solve that problem. Seek out the best candidates.

Pay attention to the signals they send you (i.e., Is this person really excited? Does he or she understand what we do?). Listen closely to what’s being said (i.e., Is this person talking about himself or herself too much? Or asking too many questions?). Be open-minded: Sometimes it takes time to figure out whether a candidate is right for your company, so don’t make up your mind too quickly (i.e., don’t rule him or her out just because he or she doesn’t meet all of the criteria). 

If there’s an opportunity for you as an entrepreneur, employee or investor to share knowledge with someone new–even if it’s something as simple as an icebreaker–do it!

Attract top talent with perks

The best people are working for someone else; it’s your job to make them want to work for you. Because of that, perks and benefits aren’t just nice extras—they can be critical elements in attracting top talent. Take a cue from Silicon Valley and look at benefits beyond compensation as part of a comprehensive recruiting strategy. The best way you can compete with companies like Google is by offering rewards that fit your business model, rather than being so-so in every area. The better you understand your ideal candidate profile and what they value, the easier it will be to decide what kind of perks would really stand out. For example, if you offer an exciting office environment with opportunities for growth and learning, provide complimentary public transportation passes or company-sponsored onsite fitness classes.

Prioritize diversity

When we hire, most of us are looking for someone with relevant experience, a good personality, and skills that match our needs. But diversity goes beyond gender and race; it includes things like worldviews and skill sets. That’s why it’s important to make diversity a priority when you’re hiring. But how? Consider asking candidates about their future career plans. It’s one of those soft questions that make potential hires feel comfortable revealing all types of information—including how interested they are in growing their careers within your company.

To retain your talent, you need to invest in them, and having people who have staying power is an important element in helping attract more talent. Recognize the fact that you may not be able to offer the type of work environment that everyone wants at every moment. Give new employees a chance to get their feet wet by pairing them up with mentors and assigning mentorships so that they can get valuable insights into different areas of the business. It will also help grow your employee’s networks, which will come in handy down the line if they decide they want to pursue other opportunities within or outside the company.

Don’t ignore applicants from other countries

While it’s great that you are hiring for a new position, you should also keep an eye out for talent from abroad. In a global economy, international employees can be an incredible asset. They may have a unique perspective and valuable experience that can help your business get ahead of its competitors. Additionally, they might be willing to work for less money than local candidates and they often don’t require as much training or supervision. This makes them ideal hires when you are trying to hire talented people on a budget.

An excellent place to find foreign talent is LinkedIn; just make sure you aren’t turning away local candidates in favor of those located outside of your area! It’s always good to reach out beyond the boundaries of your geographical location when looking for qualified applicants. Remember, it’s not uncommon for top employers to have locations around the world, so even if you’re located somewhere like Nebraska, there are still opportunities available in places like Brazil or Indonesia!

Invite candidates to cultural events

If you want employees who have a passion for your company, consider inviting them to cultural events. Part of being a good employer is showing candidates you appreciate them, and what better way than taking a step outside of business? Hosting happy hours or movie nights shows new hires you value their personal lives as well as their professional ones.

• A great place to start is by asking candidates about their hobbies and interests when they’re interviewed; that way you can learn more about them before you interview other candidates! If they don’t seem interested in your invitation, respect their decision. After all, it’s important that everyone works at a job where they feel valued—even if that isn’t yours.
• Offer flexible work schedules: Offering flexible work schedules might sound like an unrealistic goal, but the truth is that people today are demanding flexibility more than ever.
• Invite applicants to office tours: A tour around the office can help new hires get a sense of the culture you’re trying to create and provide them with an opportunity to ask questions they might not be able to during the interview process.
• Implement a mentorship program: A mentor from within your company can help newcomers get up-to-speed on best practices without having to rely on an outdated manual or struggle through Google searches.

Test knowledge, personality, experience, skills and speed

Hiring managers aren’t perfect. They have their own biases and blind spots and tend to hire people like themselves. So, if you want a different kind of team in your office, you’ll have to do something different when hiring. That means getting creative about how you test for certain knowledge, personality traits, skills or experience. To ensure your interviewers ask a diverse set of questions and consider candidates from many angles—and attract top talent in return—devise an interview process that takes into account all of these factors. The result? A more well-rounded candidate pool than you would get with traditional interviews alone. Here are five examples of ways to measure potential hires’ capabilities beyond typical assessments:

​If you’re looking for technical expertise, make sure your interview includes a live coding challenge. This gives you insight into not only whether someone can code but also how they work under pressure.​Test their ability to sell ideas by having them pitch yours. It’s important to hire people who know what they’re talking about but it’s equally important that they can communicate effectively with clients. Ask them to sell one of your company’s products or services. Then listen closely as they walk through its features and benefits, watching out for signs of charisma, confidence and intelligence. If they struggle with communicating complex ideas clearly then they probably won’t be able to win over clients either.

Complete your due diligence

Before you extend an offer to a candidate, you’ll want to make sure you’ve done your due diligence. This means reference checks, verifying qualifications, and getting a complete picture of the person you’re considering hiring. By taking the time to do your due diligence, you can avoid making a bad hire that could cost your company dearly. For example, there’s always the chance that they have been misrepresenting themselves on their resume. Make sure you have all their credentials in order before you extend them an offer. Not only will this help save you from any potential lawsuits if it turns out they were not who they said they were, but it will also give your new hires peace of mind that you vetted them thoroughly.

Employee retention: make sure you don’t lose existing talents

Attracting new talents is one thing, keeping them is another, make sure the work environment you create will make them want to stay for the long run. Use these five hiring tips and some recruitment tips to help you in this endeavor:

Hire the best people first Find people who love what they do and are great at it Keep things fun with a light atmosphere and flexible hours Create an ethical work culture that trusts its employees Offer competitive compensation packages that can’t be matched elsewhere. Continuation (six+ sentences using the words: talents hiring tips, recruiting talents): Hire the best people first Find people who love what they do and are great at it Keep things fun with a light atmosphere and flexible hours Create an ethical work culture that trusts its employees Offer competitive compensation packages that can’t be matched elsewhere.