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Having spoken with lots of financial advisers, XY Adviser Podcast Host Jess Brady realised many are extremely hesitant and cautious about hiring new team members to join their business, and with good reason – most advisers who start their own business have never been trained in the art and science of recruiting.

To help solve this problem, Jess invited Deepa Surti (Principal and Founder at RecruiTalent) to join her on the XY Podcast. Deepa has been ingrained in the recruiting world for close to thirty years, she is a wealth of knowledge in this space and was happy to share her tips and strategies to help advisers navigate the hiring process and hire great talent.

You can check out the full podcast episode here, or read on for a summary of the best tips and tricks Deepa shared.

From a professional recruiter’s point of view, here are Deepa’s best suggestions to find the perfect candidate for your business.

Before you commence the recruiting process, make sure you have considered the following:

Do you have the time? Make sure you allow ample time in your diary to hire someone new. The entire recruitment process can take 6 – 12 weeks if you are looking for the right person, and not just the next available person.

Do you know who you’re looking for? Oftentimes, the reason why we end up hiring the wrong candidate is we haven’t clearly articulated the type of person we’re actually looking for. Make sure you know exactly:

• Who you’re looking to hire;
• the tasks they’ll be doing; 
• the skills and qualifications they need to already have; 
• the qualities you think they should possess.

Do you have the resources online so candidates can get to know you better? Nowadays, the best candidates are not just looking for jobs but also looking for a great company/team. Make sure your website and social media platforms are up to date and send the right message of who you are, what your company stands for and what you’re doing that makes you stand out. However, be authentic and don’t oversell to avoid attracting the wrong candidate.

Do you know the process? Once you’re clear on the above points, here’s a guide you can follow to commence the recruitment campaign process:

1. Identify who you need to hire 
2. Prepare a job description – this should include an overview of the job, your company, and what you’re looking for in a candidate. Does this JD represent your brand’s authentic voice and culture?
3. Decide on your recruitment strategy – do you want candidates to undergo personality tests? How many interview stages should candidates go through before you hire them?
4. Screen and shortlist candidates – you (and your team) won’t have the time to interview each and every candidate so make sure you shortlist the best candidates based on their resumes/CVs.
5. Interview process – Corey Wastle shared in his podcast with Ben Nash his interview process that might be worth checking out as he mentioned that aside from interviewing the candidate himself, he also lets the team interview them to make sure the candidate is a good fit for their team. 
6. Make the offer – at this stage, if the candidate agrees, you have to consider that he/she might already be working for an existing company and will need to render a few weeks’ notice before they can start working with you. This will also add to the lead time for the recruitment process.
7. Employee onboarding – to make sure your new team member feels comfortable and welcome, you need to give them a great onboarding experience and have it ready for them when they arrive. Make sure all logins are ready to go as an example.
8. Probation period – make sure to set at least one to three months probation period as a buffer to learn if a new hire was great in their interview but not able to deliver on what was promised in the role.

If you’ve gone through the recruitment process and found a great employee, congratulations! Make sure you’ve got an excellent onboarding process ready. As Jess mentioned in this conversation with Deepa, it’s the little things that count like giving a new team member a layout or a tour of the new office or simply greeting them at the door with a cup of coffee. These small things can go a long way!