WHEN SHOULD YOU HIRE?

Most hiring happens when an opening has arisen, to replace a person who leaves.

This is not the way to do it!

The only reason to hire is to meet a business need. When someone leaves the response should be: what is the business need?

Needs change rapidly in today’s environment and someone leaving should be seen as an opportunity to step back and look properly at the next step required for the team or business to move forward. Very often, the business need is not to merely replace the outgoing person.

For example, you may have an IT systems tester who chooses to move on. Step back and look at your business plans and establish what your needs subsequently are. If the testing is coming to a close, the tester leaving might in fact be a blessing. You may instead  need additional technical support after the go-live; perhaps you need a new training function, or extra support in the technical development area as some of the work is behind schedule or more complex than originally planned. With your tester leaving, you can now move to meet these newly identified needs of your business.

Maybe you don’t even need to make a hire at all.

All vacancies arising because of someone leaving should be evaluated in this way.

Next time:

With the need to fill a post properly identified, in most cases the next step is to write a job description for circulation. A job description is what most people assume is required to drive the hiring process and they do have a role to play, but if you want to hire the best people and eradicate poor hires you can be a lot more effective.