Photo by Ryan Millier from Pexels | This post is sponsored by ZipRecruiter, the #1 hiring site.
You have a spot to fill at your small business or large organization—and you need new employees fast.
According to a study by CMD Recruitment, the average interview process length in the US is 27.5 days. That's almost an entire month.
Hiring employees can take a ton of time and money, but what if you have neither to spend on recruiters and long-winded interview processes?
What should you do to hire fast and effectively? Can you hire great employees—the kind you’ll want to keep on board for a long time—without taking forever to find them?
We partnered with ZipRecruiter to put together the best advice on finding quality employees fast while paying attention to attributes that will ensure that they’re reliable and ready.
Then, we’ll share eight quick tips for optimizing your job post to find new employees fast. Let’s get to hiring for your workplace.
The Abbreviated Checklist for Hiring New Employees
If you need your new hire yesterday, then you’re behind the ball—but we’re here to catch you up quickly.
Whether you're hiring your very first employee or your 500th, there are obligations and due diligence checks that every hiring manager should consider, even if they're in a time crunch.
We created this abbreviated new hire checklist to allow small business owners and hiring managers to streamline hiring without skipping crucial steps.
Let's get from job post to job offer letter—in way less than 27.5 days.
1. List Only the Most Crucial Skills
When looking for a new employee in a hurry, it’s best to focus on the most crucial set of skills, whether they’re hard skills or soft skills.
The “sweet spot” here is going to be three to five skills. Consider the first day on the job. What does your ideal employee absolutely have to have on day one?
We created this three-step process to ensure that you’re communicating the skills you’ll need. Remember that many applicants will shy away from jobs that require an overwhelming number of skills and experience.
Give your open position a chance by making it more accessible. Many employers will tell you that their very best hires were also green and didn't necessarily have “the right” experience when they were first hired.
- Step One: Create a list of dream skills. In your first go, include every skill you’d like to see in this hire. Reach for the sky. This should only take about five minutes.
- Step Two: Edit that list. Cross out the skills that are “nice-to-have.” Circle the skills that are “must-haves.” Finally, star the skills that would be “ideal to have.”
- Step Three: Edit it your list again. Within your three columns, are there skills that can be moved into another column? Be honest. Your end goal here is to highlight 3-5 “must-have” skills to emphasize in your job post.
The “ideal-to-have” skills aren’t finished either. Once you find your candidate, you can screen for these skills in the interview process.
2. Write the Job Post
Let’s get down to business and write that job description. We have lots of templates to help you get started with whatever hire you’re looking for.
Here’s our completely customizable job description template to get you well on your way. Sneak those crucial skills in, post to a job board like ZipRecruiter (you can try it for free!), and get ready to see your dream candidates apply!
JOB POST TITLE:
[Create a title that names the POSITION, includes an EXCITING PROSPECT, and, if you’d like, names your INDUSTRY.]
*Keep it between 50-60 characters
INTRODUCTION:
[Insert an EXCITING FIRST LINE that captures the attention of your ideal candidate.]
[Describe your COMPANY, a UNIQUE DETAIL that sets you apart from others, WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED, and a future-based VISION.]
WHO WE ARE:
[2-3 more STATEMENTS about WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, and HOW IT’S DIFFERENT.]
[Your MISSION STATEMENT]
WHO YOU ARE:
[2-3 sentences about the type of employee who would EXCEL and LEARN in the role.]
[Create an outline of THE DAY IN A LIFE within the OPEN ROLE.]
REQUIREMENTS + RESPONSIBILITIES:
[Lay out ESSENTIAL SKILLS. Try to limit to 3-5 KEY SKILLS.]
[Lay out POTENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES (e.g., annual events, reports, or other incidental responsibilities that could arise).]
[Lay out ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS such as education level, experience, specific skills, licenses, and positive character traits.]
HOW TO APPLY:
[Instruct candidate on how to APPLY, DOCUMENTS NEEDED, and any other PERTINENT INFORMATION.]
[Create a title that names the POSITION, includes an EXCITING PROSPECT, and, if you’d like, names your INDUSTRY.]
*Keep it between 50-60 characters
INTRODUCTION:
[Insert an EXCITING FIRST LINE that captures the attention of your ideal candidate.]
[Describe your COMPANY, a UNIQUE DETAIL that sets you apart from others, WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED, and a future-based VISION.]
WHO WE ARE:
[2-3 more STATEMENTS about WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, and HOW IT’S DIFFERENT.]
[Your MISSION STATEMENT]
WHO YOU ARE:
[2-3 sentences about the type of employee who would EXCEL and LEARN in the role.]
[Create an outline of THE DAY IN A LIFE within the OPEN ROLE.]
REQUIREMENTS + RESPONSIBILITIES:
[Lay out ESSENTIAL SKILLS. Try to limit to 3-5 KEY SKILLS.]
[Lay out POTENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES (e.g., annual events, reports, or other incidental responsibilities that could arise).]
[Lay out ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS such as education level, experience, specific skills, licenses, and positive character traits.]
HOW TO APPLY:
[Instruct candidate on how to APPLY, DOCUMENTS NEEDED, and any other PERTINENT INFORMATION.]
Time-Saving Pro Tip:
If you're really serious about saving time, be upfront about wages, salary, or compensation structure in the job description.
One of the biggest wastes of everybody's time is navigating the whole process to find out the employee's wages you've offered don't work.
Even if you can only pay minimum wage, be upfront about it and think beyond that. Are there opportunities to earn overtime? Can the wages be negotiable for the right talent?
3. Get the References ASAP
If you want to hire fast and cover all of your bases, then ask for references upfront. You may include details in your job description under the “How to Apply” section.
Depending on how you’d like to reach out to the reference, ask for their name, email, and phone number. Ask the candidate to include one or two lines about their relationship with the reference, as well. You don’t want to end up speaking to someone’s best friend masquerading as a previous employer. Hey, it happens!
Additionally, if you are going to require a background check, consider including that in the job post. This helps to get the ball rolling—and it takes any surprises out of the equation.
4. Making the Interview Count
Depending on how quickly you’re looking to hire and the type of employee you're looking to hire, the interview is the next big step.
The average interview process takes 24.5 days. But we know you’re in a hurry, so let’s streamline the interview process.
Regardless of the type of hire you're looking to make, your first interview will likely be a phone interview. Phone interviews are a great low-stakes way to screen a candidate before committing to a video call or an in-person or on-site interview.
Ask Questions Around Must-Have Skills and “Ideal-to-Have” Skills
Remember the list of skills you made that you had to edit out of your job post? The interview is a great place to screen for these skills.
For example, if you decided that knowledge of Microsoft Suite was “ideal” but maybe not entirely necessary for your new assistant manager, you can ask about their typing skills in an interview question, like “What’s your go-to word editing software and how would you rate your typing skills?”
If work processing can become an important part of the job, then you might prioritize this in the interview. If it’s not that important, then you can consider leaving it out and playing to this candidate’s other strengths, like their interpersonal skills.
Here are a few other questions to ask corresponding with “ideal-to-have skills”:
- Leadership Experience: “Have you ever managed other people before? What was that experience like for you?”
- Design Skills: “Your resume was very sleek and well-designed. Do you have graphic design skills?”
- Social Media Experience: “What are your favorite social media apps to use? Who are some of your favorite creators on that platform?”
5. Ready the Paperwork
Compared to writing the job description and conducting the interview, new hire paperwork is one of those necessary tasks that are boring for everyone.
But what paperwork do you need—and when do you need it for hiring a freelancer, a full-time employee, or a contract employee?
It's always best to consult the Department of Labor for help determining whether you need a W-4 or other hiring documents.
However, when you have your paperwork ready to go, it makes the onboarding and payment process easier for everyone. The quicker your new employee gets their first paycheck, the happier everyone is going to be.
Hiring 1099 Employees
When you’re hiring an independent contractor, your job is a little easier for a variety of reasons. The hiring paperwork is much easier for everyone involved.
Hiring a 1099 employee is different than hiring a full-time employee. The relationship is between two entities, which means you don’t have to withhold payroll taxes. Technically speaking, 1099 employees are considered self-employed.
Typically, employers look for a 1099 employee when they have a smaller project or when they’re unsure about their ability to pay a full-time employee. However, this is a great opportunity for both the freelancer and the employer to work together to see if there is a long-term fit.
The Paperwork You’ll Need to Hire a Freelancer or Independent Contractor
- W-9: You must have a W-9 on file for each independent contractor so that you don't have to withhold income taxes from that individual.
- Employment Agreement: For every independent contractor who works for your company, you should create an agreement to keep yourself and your employee covered. It may sound overly cautious to put together an agreement, especially when dealing with a seasonal hire, but it’s best to put everything in writing in the case of future disputes. This protects you, your business, and the independent contractor in one document.
- Potential Paperwork: Workers' Compensation Insurance: Workers' compensation differs depending on the state in which you run your business. However, if you’re hiring on-site employees, you’ll want to have workers' compensation insurance in place in the event that your employee is injured on-site or becomes ill due to work-related exposure.
For more on state-by-state guidelines around workers’ compensation, NFIB has a helpful resource.
6. Don’t Skip Thoughtful Onboarding
If you need a hire fast, an important part of your preparation is going to happen before a job offer is made.
Onboarding is an incredibly important part of the hiring process—so any business owner would be foolish to just “wing it” when it comes to onboarding.
Here are a few onboarding items to prepare before your employee arrives on their first day.
- Add the new employee to your systems (e.g., company email address, passwords to relevant software, keys to office, etc.)
- Ready new employee paperwork + employee handbook (You’d be wise to share this with the employee once they sign their new hire agreement and have them bring signed copies on day one.)
- Tools and training processes
- A shadowing program with an existing employee (or yourself) to “show the ropes” and invite any/all questions
8 Quick Tricks to Hiring Right, Right Now
Last but certainly not least, here are a few quick tips to get your hiring going!
1. Create Urgency in Your Job Post To Access Hungry Job Seekers
On a daily basis, there are hundreds of thousands of searches for “jobs near me” and “jobs hiring right now” all around the world.
As an employer, if your main priority is hiring right now, put this in the title of your job post. For example:
- “Hiring Entry-Level Administrative Assistant Right Now in Patterson, NJ”
- “Open Jobs: Local Family Farm Looking for Apprentices to Hire Immediately”
2. Use Clear Language
Many job posts use jargon-filled language to fill out space. Don’t do that. When you’re looking for a straightforward hire, use straightforward language.
Don’t rely on impressive-seeming jargon or run-on sentences. Be direct. Speak in the language you use in your everyday work.
Pro Tip: Create a voice memo on your phone about the hire you’re looking for—and write your job description based on that. Let your voice come through; it will only help in acquiring the best candidates.
3. Showcase Your Values + Any Perks
What makes this job opportunity great? Is it the ability to learn and grow while working in a fast-paced environment? Is there a flexible schedule to suit folks who have other responsibilities?
Use a line or two to demonstrate the sparkle that your company can offer. Here are some examples:
- Get hands-on experience on everything from end to end. This is a great opportunity for budding entrepreneurs.
- Join a team that collaborates and always tries new things.
- Take advantage of our quarterly learning stipend to increase your skills while on the job.
- Our entire leadership team started out with an entry-level maintenance position. Our entire credo is based on growing and understanding how important every role is.
4. Share a Quick Story
If you have the time, share a story about yourself and your company to start your job description, especially a story that directly relates to your values and mission.
Perhaps it’s how you started as a dispatcher for a small trucking company where you learned all the skills necessary to start your own trucking business.
5. Create a Skills-First Job Search
Increasingly, job seekers are launching skills-based job searches instead of position-based. Consider putting those three to five skills at the forefront of your job post and job search.
Especially in a small business or startup environment, your ideal employee’s soft skills might outweigh the hard, functional skills. In this case, prioritize your search for willingness to learn, flexibility, or interpersonal skills over software knowledge or the ability to “carry over 50 lbs.”
That brings us to our next point.
6. Be Inclusive
Some positions do require a physical proponent, in which case you should communicate that up front. However, many job descriptions are biased without ever intending to be.
In Forbes, Patti Fletcher from Workhuman describes that the best way to widen a candidate pool and eliminate bias is by “ensuring your job descriptor language is inclusive and highlights both access to opportunity and a positive working environment and culture.”
Here are some tools and articles to help ensure an inclusive and clear job description.
- Gender Bias Decoder by Totaljobs
- 7 Unexpected Biases in Hiring by Career Contessa
- How to Identify + Reconsider Ableist Language at Work by Career Contessa
7. Use Job Sites’ Best Tools to Reach Far and Wide
Some of the biggest job search engines exist in order to connect the best employees with the best employers. To that end, job sites like ZipRecruiter are constantly improving their search functions and tools to work on both sides of the hiring process.
Take advantage of it all.
- Job Slots: For example, if you’re looking to hire many open roles, ZipRecruiter’s fixed number of reusable job slots will be perfect.
- Skills-Based Invitations: When you’ve finished writing your job description that clearly describes the skills needed, ZipRecruiter’s AI “Invite to Apply” tool can pre-determine some of the best existing candidates in their database and automatically invite them to apply to your role.
8. Know Your Keywords
When you’re dreaming of your perfect candidate, what do they have? What is important to them? What skills do they possess? What does their career look like so far? What do they need to do to excel in your company?
Just like marketers build personas to create compelling content, you can create your persona for the “perfect employee.”
The Ideal Candidate Possesses:
- Soft Skills
- Hard Skills
- Value Add (What we don’t have!)
- Short-Term
- Long-Term
This doesn’t mean that your ideal candidate looks exactly like you, attended the same schools, and has the same skill set.
Think of the candidate who adds to your company instead of creating a cookie-cutter situation. Once you fill in what you need, you magically have your keywords. Make sure these keywords are in your job description title, job post body, in your interview, and at the heart of the job. Good luck!
