A Guide to Obtaining the Best Employees

There's this maxim in business that you are only as good as your employees are. For example, if you are in the clothing business, your success lies in the skill of the pattern makers, designers, sewers and the employees who are in charge of maintaining the quality of the final product.

Without a skilled workforce, you will not be able to achieve any semblance of success or meet the business goals that you have.

The Problem: Finding the Best, Qualified Employees in Today's Workplace

Basically, the success of any type of business lies to a large extent on obtaining the most skilled, creative and dedicated employees. But the problem is that looking for the best, most qualified employees in today's workplace is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

To Gain an Idea of How Difficult it is to Obtain the Best Employees in Today's Workplace, take a Look at the Following Statistics

• According to a survey by the William Olsten Center, 75% of companies in the United States and Canada are having problems finding qualified employees to work for them.
• Based from Fortune's 100 Best Companies, the following beefed-up and creative incentives are offered in the packages offered by employers in order to attract and retain highly-skilled and qualified employees:

• 83% offer child care service for their employees.
• 73% offer care for the elderly.
• 89% offer adoption services.

• For other employers, they even offer incentives such as company homes, perks for new parents, family services and other benefits to entice employees to work for them.
• Most employers are finding it difficult to attract quality frontline workers while retaining them long enough to get a return for their investment.

Where to Obtain the Best Employees

As you can see, there really is a lack of highly-skilled, qualified employees to go around for many industries. For many high-tech industries, there is so much competitive headhunting out there, it becomes even more difficult to hire and retain the skilled help they that’s needed. But if you will look at the bigger picture, there is a way for resourceful and imaginative employers to obtain the best employees. They just need to know exactly where to look.

So what is the best route for you when finding the best employees? Just as it is with almost everything else, the cardinal rule is to look online. Today, there are two sites which have huge databases of qualified applicants for almost any type of employee qualification you may require: Monster.com and Yahoo Hotjobs.com.

Some of the largest companies from around the world use these two online companies as their primary source for hiring qualified employees so you know you are using a resource that even Fortune 500 Company’s use. Also, literally millions of job applicants from around the world post their resumes in these two enormous databases. In that the base of talent comes from worldwide prospects, you have your pick of the cream of the crop.

Tips on Finding the Best Employees

Now that you know where to look when hiring the best employees for your company, here are a few things that you need to keep in mind in preparation for finding the best team of people to work for the success of your business:

Before Turning to Sites like Monster.com and Yahoo Hotjobs.com for Your Employee Needs, You Should First Make a Clear Definition of the Job Opening

What exactly does the job entail? Do you require a full-time or part-time employee?

What benefits can you offer to the job applicants and how the payroll be handled.

Think about the extended skills your prospective employee might need when writing your job description.

Finding someone who is diverse and able to do more than his hired specialty is always a plus, especially for smaller companies that need to save costs.

Make Sure to Not Only Consider the Current Needs of Your Business, but its Future Needs as Well.

For example, if you are looking for an Information Technology expert and you are sure that a new software application will be implemented by your company in the future, make sure to hire someone who already has a certification for the type of technology that you will adapt in the future. This way, the new employee will feel a part of the company's growth and be an even more valuable asset to your business.

Screen thoroughly and Make Your Current Employees a Part of the Hiring Process

Remember that most companies experience a high turnover rate because they find out that a person whom they hired is not as qualified as they might think. Screen the applicants more thoroughly and allow the current employees take part in the hiring process.

Ask the current employees what they think of the prospective hires and allow the old, trusted employees to have a say. After all, they are the people who do the job every day and know all the demands and requirements many times more than the boss.

By spending a little more time in choosing the best employees for the job position, you can eliminate bad hiring decisions, save a lot of time and money in the long run and ensure that anybody who signs a job offer from your company is more likely to be an asset for your business rather than a liability, both in the short term and in the future.

Article Custom Written/compiled for Job Service Help by Mabelle Sese of The Filipino Worker Company. Added February 8, 2009