How to Find the Right People to Hire for Your Team

Wondering how to find the right people to hire for your team?  Or just confused about how the whole hiring process works, and where to even start?

Don’t worry…I’ve got your back.

The process of hiring employees can seem daunting at first, but when you know where to look and how to conduct the hiring process, it becomes much less stressful…and even kind of fun!

In this post, I’m going to walk you through where and how to find the right people to hire for your team.

Where to Find the Right People for Your Team

This is the first step and the one where many small business owners get stuck.

What I always recommend is starting out by asking for personal recommendations or referrals from friends, colleagues, and co-workers. This is the best way to find employees who are reliable, trustworthy, and highly skilled in their field.

BUT, if this doesn’t yield positive results, I’m going to share some of my favorite places to find amazing, qualified candidates for pretty much any job you can imagine!

Where to find a writer: Looking for someone to write your blog posts or website content? Two of my favorite job boards for finding high-quality writers are the ProBlogger Job Board and BloggingPro.

Need to find a project manager:  Look for highly-rated project managers on Upwork, or check out the PMI (Project Management Institute) website to find certified project managers.

Where to find graphic designers: For small business owners who need a lot of design work, check out Design Pickle – you can use them to handle all of your design needs.  Packages begin at $499 per month.

Want to find a virtual assistant: Two of my favorite resources for finding a VA include Virtual Staff Finder and Hire My Mom.

This brief list should get you started with finding the right people for your team. Wondering what other jobs or tasks you should hire for or outsource? Check out my post, 12 Tasks to Outsource Immediately to Better Manage Your Time and Your Business.

How to Hire People for Your Team

Knowing where to look for qualified candidates is just the start.

It’s also super important to know how to conduct the hiring process so you find the right people for your team.

This will mean some extra work on your part – both before, during, and after you meet with potential job candidates.

Before you even search job boards or ask for referrals:

Have a solid job description in place before you start the hiring process. In other words, be super clear about what you want to hire for.  This is a key step to hiring. Without it, you’ll be floundering as you evaluate potential candidates. You need to know exactly what skill set you’re looking for so you can write effective job postings and pre-qualify potential candidates.

It’s also important to sit down and think about your company culture (or the general work environment you want to have). This will help you figure out not only who’s a good fit, but who you would consider the wrong people for your team!

Need a process for making sure you’re ready to start the hiring process (including determining your company culture and mission?) Check out my post, How to Build a Team for Your Small Business When You’re Not Sure Where to Start.

While you’re interviewing potential employees or contractors:

Have a set of interview questions that will help you get to know your candidates – not just their skill set, experience or education, but also important soft skills like being a good communicator, being willing to learn, and working well on teams.

Take detailed notes during and immediately after each interview. In particular, note down your impressions of the candidate and any “gut feelings” you have about them…these observations are easy to forget and can save you from hiring someone who just isn’t a good fit.

After the Interview

Follow up on reference checks. Pay attention not just to what references say, but to how they say it, and what they don’t say. For instance, do they mention that they were sad to lose this person? Do they sound enthusiastic in their praise? Or do they mainly talk about facts (for examples, the length of time worked.)? Read between the lines here, or you could be missing some critical info.

Knowing Where to Start is the First Step in Hiring Your Team

I trust this post has shown you how to find the right people to hire for your team. The more you do it, the easier it will become…but in the beginning, it’s sure nice to have a step-by-step plan to follow!
Are you ready to start the hiring process? What’s first for you on your hiring to-do list? Let me know in the comments below!

UPDATED on April 11, 2022