7 Qualities to Look out for When Recruiting Hourly Workers
When recruiting hourly workers, you want people who have the necessary skills to do the job. These skills can come from the right academic qualifications, trainings or on-job experience. But that is only half the puzzle. Technical skills alone will not be enough to ensure your workers deliver. In this article we discuss qualities to look out for when recruiting hourly workers.
1.Good communication skills
When recruiting hourly workers, you need people who have very good communication skills. These are people who can clarify their thoughts and ideas and communicate them well to others.
As early as the pre-interview stage, you will be able to notice how good someone’s communication skills are. You’ll be able to take note of how they respond to questions, how they listen, if they respond to emails in a timely manner and more.
Don’t despair if a great candidate doesn’t score full marks for communication during the interview though. This is a skill that you can help them develop. An example of the training you can offer them is on active listening which involves paying attention to the person speaking, asking questions and summarizing what has been said.
3.Flexibility
An important quality to look out for when recruiting hourly workers is flexibility. You want people who can be available sometimes at relatively short notice. If you have a sick employee, you want to know that the person recruited will be available to fill in.
To determine and also support flexibility, listen to the job candidate. They might be a person whose mornings are booked but they have evenings free. By asking questions about their schedules an interviewer can figure out if a candidate possesses this quality.
Flexibility goes beyond schedules to include people’s personalities. Hourly workers come into a workplace that may already have permanent staff and they have to be able to work alongside them. An inflexible person will have a harder time as an hourly worker in a team setting.
Ask questions to determine a candidate’s experience with and attitude towards flexibility. A question like ‘Was there a time when you had to do something different from the assigned task in order to get the job done?’ well reveal some valuable insights.
3.Team work
Every job, even those that require solo work, entails an element of team work. If it is not sharing tasks, it will be asking for advice and sharing a light moment. Hourly workers need to be able to get along with colleagues. When teams get along there is better collaboration, innovation and trust, all which translate to better output. This also applies to virtual teams. In fact, trust is an essential element of effective virtual teams.
Keep in mind that as a manager, you have a big role to play in creating the right team dynamics and culture. Your hourly worker will have a hard time fitting in to a workplace where team work isn’t a priority even if they are a great team player.
4.Adaptability
Adaptability means being able to change to fit circumstances. Hourly workers typically work different shifts. This means that they will not work alongside the same people all the time.
In some cases, they may be called to fill in for someone at another branch of the business. Will they be able to quickly adapt in the new setting and work with others? If so, then they are adaptable.
Adaptable employees are resourceful, curious and open to trying new things. These are valuable skills to have in many workplaces.
5.Dependability
It would be tragic if you hired an hourly worker for a busy shift at your restaurant only for them not to show up. To gauge if a worker will be dependable, do a trial run with them before fully recruiting them onto your team. This probationary period will show you if the candidate is someone you can rely on or not.
Dependability ties into the quality of being a good communicator. Like all employees, hourly workers will also face disruptions that may affect their ability to show up to work. In such a scenario, you want someone who is dependable enough to communicate their absence as soon as possible and not wait for a call from their manager.
6.Self-motivation
A valuable quality to look out for when hiring hourly workers is self-motivation. Recruit candidates who have self-drive and a strong push to work.
Unlike full time employees who are contract bound to go to work, hourly workers need to have more driving them to get the job done. An interviewer can determine this quality by asking about why the employee wants to do that specific job.
Just like communication skills, self-motivation can be nurtured in employees. One way to do this is by helping them to clarify their goals. Go ahead and help them map the steps required to reach them. This will improve their self-motivation and commitment to the job.
7.Time management
Following closely on the heels of self-motivation is time management. By definition, hourly workers are paid dependant on how many hours they work so time management is an important skill to have.
Desirable candidates will be able to work within set timeframes and deliver work in time. If you hire an hourly worker to do your accounting work for your restaurant, you will no doubt need them to be able to file returns, complete payments and perhaps spearhead an audit all before the deadline.
Conclusion
When it comes to hiring hourly workers, managers should look out for a wide range of skills. Some workers may exhibit them in full, while in others they may only be budding. It is important to remember that workplaces contribute to skilling workers so the skills you need can be nurtured. To that end, it is important to recruit employees who are willing to learn.
