This is probably one of the most memorable lessons I have when I started I Need A Michee. There was a time when Alla & I just held off hiring people. I can barely remember why but it was probably a mix of fear and arrogance.
We started to hire when when we were overwhelmed and stressed. It wasn’t a good experience.
Let’s admit it, the hiring process itself is time consuming so doing that while you’re already frantic and keeping yourself together is probably not a great idea.
Here are some of the big lessons I learned on why this is a big no-no.
The Hiring Process Needs Your Attention
From the moment you craft your job post to filtering applications to sending out tests to interviews, all these require your attention. A crappy job post will attract crappy applicants. Then on the first few days of your posting, you’ll receive hundreds of applications and that alone can be overwhelming.
Then, sending out tests and reviewing those is another huge leg. Then you do interviews and then you decide. It’s time consuming and energy consuming at the same time.
If you’re at a point where you can barely take care of yourself, how can you give proper attention to your hiring process?
🙌 TIP! Add filters in your email to automatically filter out applicants that did not meet a specific criteria. You can even send canned responses using filters.
You’ll End Up Hiring Purely Based on Skill
Instead of actually finding the best candidate for you and your business, you’d end up hiring the first person that you think meets all of the skills you listed in your job post.
Why is this bad? Having the skills is what you need, right?
Yes on skills but something beats that - culture fit and attitude. If this is your first hire, he or she will help shape your future team. If this person will be added to an existing team and it’s not a fit, you’ll probably end up changing the team dynamics for the worse.
Remember skills can be taught, work ethic and attitude are innate. A person with the best skills that is hard to work with would slow you down and make things hard for you and your team.
The More Time You’ll End Up Wasting
Because you’ll probably need to let your quick hire go and repeat the entire hiring process again. Think about it. You spent weeks doing this rush hire. Then you spent another set of weeks on-boarding this person but then you realize it’s really not working out.
It’s tedious but really investing the time, attention and energy for every single hire you do will help you in the long run.
