Does your business have a streamlined hiring process for finding new employees? Do you find that your job listings bring more unqualified applicants than qualified? What may seem like a simple process of hiring often ends up being a major barrier to overall company success, with lost time and revenue due to empty positions? The following steps will detail how the hiring process works and help identify where your company hiring process may be failing.

Step 1: Clearly Set Out and Define the Job

Many employers fail to adequately define the skills and knowledge required for an open position. It is important to list the expected duties and qualifications in detail. Make a list of hard skills necessary for the position and additional soft skills for an ideal candidate. Applications from the unqualified slow down the hiring process. Be explicit in your requirements to weed out those applications.

Step 2: Be Proactive

Often, companies post an opening on a job website and wait for applications to come to them. If you want to maximize your business’s success, actively seek the A-list employees who will make your business great. Often, those people are already working. The passive applications coming in may not be the best candidates. Expecting a cascade of rockstars in response to a job posting is unlikely to find the ideal candidate for the job. Contacting third-party recruiters can help identify and contact these A-list candidates.

Upon receiving applications, quickly narrow down your field of potential applicants. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is to let resumes sit in their inbox for weeks before responding. You may be losing your opportunity to find the best candidates by doing so.

Step 3: Sell the Job Position

Whether from passive applications or active recruiting, you want to find candidates that best fit your organization. The best may already be in a job they like. Sell them on the opportunity of working for your company. Give reasons why they can identify with your organization. Do not fail to communicate why working with and for you will be a positive experience!

Step 4: Telephone and Face-to-Face Interviews

Telephone screening is the first step in the hiring process to narrow down candidates. Ideally, you should have 10-15 candidates to interview by phone. Compile a list of questions to make initial impressions of their qualities, skills, and knowledge. Proceed to in-person interviews. Often a business will prepare interview questions for candidates but follow with two major mistakes: stretching out the interview process too long, causing applicants to lose interest, and not making offers quickly enough. The best candidates will be interviewing for multiple companies.

Step 5: The Best Candidate May Not Be Ideal

Companies lose valuable time in looking for the “perfect” person— what is often called the unicorn candidate. Rarely, will you find the exact candidate. Actively recruit A-listers, but be willing to consider candidates who may not possess your entire wish-list of skills. With time and communication about your goals and expectations, they may grow into that ideal candidate. Being too critical in the hiring process could lead to lost time and productivity.

Step 6: Set Your New Hire Up for Success!

You’ve done the hard work to find the best candidate. Don’t make the mistake of failing to integrate them into your company. Give your new hire the tools he or she needs to be successful. Communicate often and continue to assess how the duties of each position change and evolve along with the growth of your company.