One of the most difficult things to do as a manager is to hire quality help for your business. The single biggest thing you can learn to do is to recruit, hire, and cultivate people that could potentially be your boss someday. That is, you will want to hire people that have an unlimited ceiling. The good thing about hiring your future boss is that you will have great employees around you, and that can only help your future business prospects and personal potential. The people that have mastered the art of hiring are the people that move up in the business world.
So, how do you hire your future boss?
It begins with knowing how to recruit the right candidates. Recruiting is all about targeting the best people for your open position. The best candidate is not always the one with the highest degree, or the best credentials. Those are certainly important factors, but you should also focus on whether the person fits the position, and the future, that the business holds dear. Finding these quality individuals is not as hard as one might think.
You can begin recruiting them simply by looking within your own network. That is, do you know anyone yourself that might be a great fit? No reference is better than your own reference. That said, think about those people around you that are outstanding fits. If you know nobody that might fit, then ask around to trusted individuals. Somebody surely knows someone that might work out well. Ask questions!
Another quality way to hire your future boss is to hold a hiring fair. The best way to attract quality applicants as a manager is to get out there and mingle with those people looking for a job. Set up a table at a local job fair, and talk to those people! You would be amazed at how many potential leads will present themselves.
Once you have a quality pool of applicants, have them come in and interview. The interview is not about credentials as much as finding out if they possess the talent to do the job well. Have them answer questions that directly relate to the field they would be working in. If they are salespeople, then find out if they are great with people. Have them “sell” you something right there in the interview. If they are going to work in manufacturing, ask and inquire about how well they work alone.
The biggest key to finding your future boss, and hiring them, is to focus on the position and future of your company. Pay attention to the traditional things like resume and history, but dig deeper to see if they fit your employment plan for the company. This will bring out the details needed to see if they could someday be your boss or not.
