How To Find The Best Team Members For Your Company

find the best

If you find the best people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them. ~ Jack Welch (Tweet this)

As a former recruiter I can tell you that the process of hiring people can be a headache. I spent many days interviewing lackluster candidates for job positions and many hours consulting the decent candidates on how to do a better job.

As a recruiter I also saw new hires disappear, people drop the ball constantly and a general disrespect for authority. It didn’t take me long to understand why companies would outsource the hiring process to recruiting firms—because it’s a time consuming pain in the behind to find the best candidate.

However, as an online business owner I can tell you that finding good members for your team doesn’t have to be so painful. In fact, I would venture to say that it was much easier for me to find the best people for my own team than it was to find the best candidates for other companies—despite the fact that I was working with a much smaller candidate pool.

Today, after much trial and effort, I now know how to find the best. I’m about to share a method I’ve used to hire every single member of my team—from my coach to my accountant and everyone in between. I’m happy to say that I’ve found great people with little effort and I’m happy to teach you how to find the best for your team as well.

1. Tap into your community

By the time I was ready to start hiring people I’d been building an email list via a blog for a few years. I’d also gotten a much bigger Facebook and Twitter presence. As a result, when it was my turn to find the best team members I already had some leads to tap into. Not only did I have a lot of candidates, I also had a lot of pre-qualified candidates because they were obviously fans of my work and understood my brand.

So then, now, every time I need to hire someone I just ask my community to help me find the best fit for the position.

For example, when looking for a web designer I simply sent out an email to my list asking if anyone did this kind of work. I got a few results, interviewed with some designers and found the perfect one who truly understood my brand vision. She’s now been doing my company’s design work for two years.

Often the best solution to a management problem is the right person. ~ Edwin Booz (Tweet this)

2. Ask for referrals

Referrals are a great way to find just about anything you need—from products to people. They also make your job of hiring easier because the candidates already have someone putting in a good word for them.

When I worked in recruiting, our best candidates usually came as a result of another great candidate telling us about them. This made the interviewing process virtually painless because people tend to hang out with other individuals who are similar to them.

When it came time for me to find the best business coach I asked my colleagues who their coach was. I saw how my colleagues were doing amazing things and I wanted to be as successful as they were, so logic would follow that I hire the same people.

This is also how I found a great small business attorney to help me with a trademark. I asked one of my mentors to point me in the right direction because I was feeling overwhelmed with trying to find an attorney. She gladly did an email intro and by the end of the day I had an attorney.

As a trusted coach I also have people asking me for referrals all the time. As of late I have a lot of people asking me who my virtual assistant is, and I’m happy to refer them. If you ask around you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can find the best people for your team. People are usually more than happy to share information with you.

3. Explore interns to potentially find the best hires

Hiring interns is a great way to get some entry-level and cost-effective help. You get the help you need while the intern gets some real world experience for their career—it’s a win-win! As a former recruiter I can tell you internships are huge among college students. They know they need some real-world experience in order to get a job after college; so many of them are looking for internships to give them an edge once they graduate.

All you have to do is create a job posting, have an application process and interview potential candidates. If you go through a college you’ll likely have some sort of application process with the school. However, you can also post your internship requirements on sites like Internships (USA) or Internshala (India).

One thing to note about internships, make sure to check in your local area about how internships legally work. In most places interns are required to get some form of compensation in a stipend, a wage or a college credit. The last thing you want is to get yourself into some legal hot water.

4. Try professional organizations

I met my accountant because we were both a part of a conference for people who work in financial media. We literally met at an airport while waiting for a flight to attend the conference. While we wouldn’t be working together until a few months later, the fact that he was involved in the same organization, knew who I was and understood how I made my money made it easy for me to hire him when the time was right. He got my business finances squared away in no time and I can rest easy knowing it’s being taken care of.

I hired my virtual assistant in similar fashion. I was part of an online networking group and I posted a question about how to use virtual assistants in an online business. I also mentioned that I thought I was ready for one but wasn’t entirely sure.

My (now) virtual assistant commented and offered to get on the phone with me to discuss what virtual assistants do and how to use them properly. We’ve now been working together for over a year and she’s helped me through some major business transitions.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that networking events and professional organizations solely exist to bring you new business, the truth is you can also find the best, most-qualified team members if you’re open to it.