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Hire the Best Staff: 7 Tips to Get It Right

Recently I shared 7 Suggestions When Interviewing for a Church Staff Position. Rightly, someone commented they would like to see the reverse post.

Here are 7 Suggestions for Hiring the Right Person:

Pray for wisdom – This should be an obvious step, but many times we let our emotions cloud our reality when it comes to hiring. Ask God to make clear this is the right person or give you an uncertainty if it’s not the right person.

Take your time – It’s better to take a long time to hire than to wrestle with the aftermath. Especially in churches, the firing process is awkward and difficult. Take as long as you need to be as certain as you can about a person. You’ll still be taking a risk, but it will be a more educated risk.

Know them…and if not…check references – These days it’s vital to get as much of a personal connection to the person you hire as possible. I told my boys they’ll most likely never have a job where they didn’t know someone first. It’s where we’ve been forced to move as a society. If you don’t know them, do a background check. This is a must unless you know the person extremely well. There are too many liabilities these days not to know the facts.

Ask good questions – You should be skilled at asking open-ended questions in a job interview. Let’s be honest, most of the time when we call someone for an interview we already have decided we like them, either personally or on paper. You want to open the door to hear their story, not the one you have already created for them in your mind.

Engage for honesty – Create an environment where the person feels free to share. The more casual and longer you can make the interview the better. Try to get in their environment. Make them feel you care enough to share the truth with you about where they are and where they hope to go. You’re number one goal should be to find a fit with your vision and team, so get to know their heart as much as you can.

Let them ask questions – Make sure all their questions are answered. There are no questions too big or too small at this point. Let them know their questions, and their spouse’s questions, are welcomed.

Talk them out if it – I always want to make sure the person knows what they’re getting into, my personal strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and who we are as an organization, so I actually spend time in what has often appeared to be talking them out of the position. I want them to know the benefits and the negatives of the organization. If they survive this step, I’m usually ready to hire.