Wanting a new employee? Today this is a major challenge! There are so many unfilled positions and the one you are trying to fill is just one of many.

Canada has over a million positions unfilled! That means you may not find enough people to even explore more than one person for your unfilled position. Regardless, here are the things to think about while hiring so you can have an employee for years to come.

Take Vivian for instance. She needs a salesperson for her retail company, and she has done all the steps that help her company gain a new employee.

The steps are reasonably simple – yet they take attention and effort:

Step 1 – Have a very specific job description so you know exactly what it is the individual will do when he or she is employed.

Step 2 – If this is a higher-level position in your company, always check to see if you have someone who could move up into the position. No one is a perfect fit so consider what training an existing employee may need to fill the position more easily.

Step 3 – Create an ad to let people know about the position available. Provide this to other staff and even place it in newspapers, magazines, and online job sites.

Step 4 – Review every resume you receive – have a checklist so you can analyze one candidate against another. Choose the top 3 to 6 candidates (if you are lucky enough to get that many) and have a telephone conversation to fill in the blanks on your checklist if the candidate has those skills and neglected to mention them in their resume. Then choose who it is you want to have a face-to-face interview with – or if they are not in your community do this online via Zoom, Skype or Teams.

Step 5 – Your candidate may have the skills – wonderful. However, the most important part of your interview is to focus on the soft skills to know whether or not your candidate will fit into the culture of your organization. If they can’t, then it will be a poor hire as it will never work.

It’s a challenge – you can have the perfect, amazing salesperson, and if they do not fit the culture of your organization, they will fail. Be cautious – soft skills are: attitude, problem-solving, communication, work ethic, problem-solving, and many more because these are the skills that matter as important as the hard skills that mean a person can carry out the tasks of the position.

Once your decision is made, create a letter of engagement spelling out the new job. Immediately begin to support your new hire by meeting regularly to plan the next steps as they become more comfortable with the position.

And, as for Vivian, she was successful in hiring a new employee. You can too – do not do it off the edge of your desk, do it with a plan and with a desire to ensure your new hire fits in with the rest of your employees.

Sherry’s CORNER

Recently I attended the Treaty 4 Gathering and watched the raising of the 4 flags – Union Jack, Canada, Saskatchewan and Treaty 4. As I watched 4 Elders pay tribute to the flags as they did the unity walk around the flags it brought to mind the unity of our country. How everyone is included.

What about you? Are you conscious of what we can do in our country to be united? The First Nations people, the Métis, 5^th generation immigrants like me and 2^nd generation immigrants like my husband. And, of course, the newer immigrants who come from other lands to enjoy this great country we all call home.

How do you feel about Canada? What are your thoughts about this land you call home? Please share your thoughts with me by emailing me at sherry@dimension11.com.