Hiring New Employees Safely
When you are hiring people into your business, plenty of thought is put into whether or not they are a good fit or have the right skills – as should indeed be the case. But in truth, we should be aiming to put at least the same degree of effort into working out whether the individual in question is a safe hire, in every sense of the word. This is important to ensure the safety of your existing staff, who are your main priority, as well as the safety and security of your stock, data, premises, intellectual property, and anything else that could potentially come to some kind of harm in the wrong hands. While you should adopt a generally trusting atmosphere during your recruitment process, you should also take care to ensure you are hiring trustworthy individuals.
Carry Out Background Checks
Not all employers do this, but it is becoming more and more common, and it is something that you might want to consider if you are keen to ensure that you are hiring someone whom you can trust with your business and your colleagues. There are a whole range of background checks which you are entitled to carry out, ranging from a simple look at their Facebook page to a full-on criminal database check. If you want to make all this easier, as well as ensure that it is being done thoroughly, you might consider something like a Checkr background check, just to be safe. That way, you can be sure that the individual in question is not hiding anything which might pertain to your business after you hire them.
Pay Attention To Their Behavior
At least one good thing about conducting an interview with potential candidates is that you get to see them in the flesh, and to witness their real-life behavior. While you never know what’s going on underneath, most of us are pretty reliable judges of character and an interview is an important chance for you to make sure that the person in question does not seem dangerous in any way. This does not mean judging their personality, just looking out for any signs that they might not be trustworthy in your business. Pay close attention to their behavior, and you will come away with a better sense of who you are really dealing with.
Utilize A Probation Period
If you want to allow yourself to hire people into your business, but you also want to keep one foot on the ground just in case, then a probation period could be a great way to do this. Many companies do this these days, and the way it works is quite simple. You just hire the individual, but you explain that they are on a probation period for the first few weeks – how long is up to you to decide. If anything goes wrong in that time, you can let them go. More importantly, you can keep an eye on them and ensure that they are really right for the job, and safe to hire. Then you can hire them in good confidence.
One Comment
Kate Sarsfield
Just as a matter of interest, the interview works both ways; I’ve been in situations where I’ve been desperate for a job but just knew, upon meeting the management team, that I wouldn’t be happy.