How to Hire for an Entry-Level Role

Hiring is hard work, but can be especially challenging when it comes to entry-level roles. It’s difficult to evaluate candidates who have little to no experience. As a result, there’s a greater chance for hiring mistakes and a hit to morale, productivity, and profits.

The good news is there are some ways you can make the job of hiring entry-level employees easier. Here are a few tips to keep in mind in the process:

Focus on your employer brand.

You need to position your company in the candidate marketplace as a great place to work. This means promoting your mission, values, and perks and benefits. You can do this on your website through an employee-authored blog and via social media. Your goal is to recruit individuals to your company and create a pipeline of qualified possibilities.

Invest time into creating good job descriptions.

Too many times, job descriptions are a laundry list of qualifications and skills. For employees new to the workforce, this can be confusing and overwhelming. Many assume they need to fulfill all the criteria to get an interview, when this often isn’t the case.

Instead, invest the time and effort into crafting a clear, concise job description. Make sure you talk about more than just what you’re looking for in a candidate, but also why they’d want to work for you.

Use situational interview questions.

During the interview process, you want to learn as much as you can about the candidate and their background. Since they don’t have a long track record or a lot of work experience, use situational interview questions to get to know how they’d act in a certain situation.

For instance, “what would you do if you weren’t sure how to answer a question from a customer?” This will give you more insight into how they’d handle situations that are an essential part of the job.

Offer a skill-based assignment.

Candidates might be done with school. However, that doesn’t mean homework is over. In fact, giving them a small skill-based assignment to complete is a great way to assess your top few candidates’ abilities. This will help you determine whether they have what it takes to perform the job and if they follow directions and meet deadlines.

Measure their performance.

Make sure you’re checking in with new entry-level employees more regularly and keeping track of their performance. This will help them to stay engaged and motivated, as well as help you measure the success of your hiring process. You’ll also have a better sense of what traits and abilities are most crucial to entry-level roles so that you can look for them in future candidates.

Need help hiring for an entry-level position?

Future Force is here for you. As one of the top staffing agencies in Orlando, FL, we can give you access to talented candidates who are looking for employers just like you. We’ll source and screen them first so that you can pick from the leading contenders. You’ll be able to hire faster and more affordably. Contact us today to get started.

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