5 Ways A PEO Can Improve Recruiting And Save You From Dangerous Mistakes

According to Jorgen Sundberg, the founder of Link Human, also a well-known author on hiring and recruiting issues, the cost of a bad hiring decision is approximately $840,000. That’s a lot of wasted capital, and for a small business, poor hiring decisions can be deadly to morale and productivity.

Hiring the right employee for an open position is more than posting ads on an online job board, scanning resumes, and interviewing a handful of people. Recruiting is both an art and a science that requires patience, diligence and knowledge of human nature. That’s where professional employer organizations (PEOs) come into the picture.

Although many companies view PEOs as the “benefits people,” they perform a myriad of human resource tasks, among them recruiting employees. PEOs can mean the difference between a terrific hire and a ho-hum hire for your small business. That can make a tremendous difference on your bottom line this year.

Five Ways a PEO Helps with Recruiting

Small businesses who partner with PEOs benefit from their help with recruiting in many ways. These include:

1. Find candidates through their network: Yes, you can post recruiting advertisements on some of the big websites, but PEOs have additional areas where they can search for excellent candidates. They can recruit from competitors, industry trade groups and more.
2. Interviewing candidates: Human resources professionals working for a PEO have the necessary skills to ask candidates important questions. When interview questions are asked skillfully, they can elicit surprising answers. You may find that a resume tells only half the story. The interview tells the full story, and someone quite skilled at interviewing can learn more about a candidate in 30 minutes than the average manager can in 3 days. 
3. Give skill appraisal tests: Anyone can list skills on their resume, but can they perform them? PEOs can conduct skill appraisals ranging from simple computer and typing tests to complex skills analysis and personality profiles. Because they conduct such tests for a multitude of partners, they can do so more efficiently and cost effectively than a single company can.
4. Conduct background checks: Background checks are an essential part of recruiting and hiring new talent, yet few small businesses actually conduct them. A PEO can leverage extensive background checking resources to ensure that a candidate’s education, experience and licensing are up to date, and that they meet the job requirements.
5. Assess how well the employee will fit the corporate culture: As a manager, one of the toughest challenges during the recruiting process is selecting a candidate who will fit in with the overall team. How can you tell whether or not a candidate will enjoy the office environment and mesh with the team? Human resource professionals at PEOs can often spot a mismatch or a perfect match with uncanny accuracy thanks to all the experience they have. Having a PEO at your side when making your final evaluation of candidates can help you find a candidate who will be perfect for the job and the company starting on day one.

Recruiting can be challenging for a small business. Finding the time to post ads, read resumes, interview people by phone, in person and finally selecting the best candidate for the job all takes time and effort. Fortunately, with a PEO by your side you can save all of the headaches during recruiting and let the professionals get to work finding the best person for the job.