As a small business owner, you are likely familiar with making hiring decisions. Or, you may have a hiring manager handle the process for you. As your business grows, forming a committee might be the best option for hiring new employees. Read on to learn whether or not you should form a hiring committee in your small business.
Pros and cons of forming a hiring committee
Before you decide to form a hiring committee, weigh your pros and cons.
Pros of a hiring committee
Consider these advantages of establishing a hiring committee.
Consistency
Your hiring committee should help to remove bias, follow diversity and equal opportunity laws, and remain consistent when hiring candidates.
Having the same committee members review each candidate helps keep your hiring process consistent and fair. And, every candidate is held to the same standard.
Faster process
As a business owner, you likely do not have time to sift through resumes and interview potential candidates.
Putting together a dedicated team with expert opinions, accurate decisions, and experience can streamline your hiring process.
The hiring committee devotes their time to hiring top-notch candidates. As a result, the process should move quickly and efficiently.
When you have a specialized team that can hire quickly, you are less likely to lose out on top candidates.
Better performance from new hires
The quality of new hires can directly impact your business’s bottom line. Not hiring the right candidate may result in employee termination.
Having a team that dedicates their time to finding the perfect candidate can determine the quality of your new hires. Team members can weed out unqualified candidates and share their opinions with one another to select the best candidate.
Cons of a hiring committee
Review the cons of forming a hiring committee before you implement one.
Delayed decisions
Although teams can streamline the process, the hiring process can be slow when there are too many decision-makers involved.
Because a hiring committee typically consists of four to five members, chances of a delay in the decision-making process increase.
If you have too many members, they may butt heads while making a decision. When forming a hiring committee, limit the number of people in the committee to prevent a drawn-out process.
Expensive
Forming a hiring committee can come with a cost. Establishing a search committee can be expensive, especially for small businesses on a budget with few employees.
Devoting time and money to form a committee is not for everyone. Consider your budget. Is it worth the investment? Can you afford it? Does your business really need to form a hiring committee?
Lack of understanding
Because of time constraints and cost, many businesses only form one hiring committee versus creating multiple hiring committees for different roles or departments.
Having one committee may result in members’ lack of understanding for certain positions. Chances are, not every member of your hiring committee is well-versed in every category or subject.
For example, you may use the same committee for computer engineers and secretaries. Your hiring committee might not be familiar with engineering terminology.
Compose your hiring committee of people with different backgrounds and strengths to stay consistent, relate to candidates, and understand the dynamics of the open position.
This is not intended as legal advice; for more information, please click here.
