7 Steps to Recruiting a Winning Team

As an SME business owner/leader, you can probably relate to this scenario...you desperately need someone to start in three weeks. You post a quick job ad, interview the first three people who apply, pick the least worst option, and six months later you're back to square one, having lost time, money, and a fair amount of sleep.

Sound familiar? It's the most common and most costly mistake leaders make.

Your people are your business. In a small team, one wrong hire doesn't just fill a seat badly; it can damage client relationships, drag down morale, and eat up your own time managing the fallout. Conversely, one brilliant hire can transform everything.

The good news is that recruiting well isn't complicated. It just requires a process. Here are the seven steps I use with business owners across Southampton and Hampshire to help them find and keep the right people.

1. Get crystal clear on who you actually need

Before you write a single word of a job advert, take time to build a precise picture of your ideal candidate. The more specific you are here, the easier every step that follows becomes.

Ask yourself:

• What are the core responsibilities and day-to-day tasks?
• What skills are essential, and which are simply desirable?
• What KPIs will this person be held accountable for?
• What does the working pattern look like, and are you open to flexibility?
• What salary range will attract strong candidates and sit fairly within your existing team?
• What attitudes and values matter most to you?

That last point is crucial. If you haven't defined your company values, do that first. You can teach almost any skill, but you can't teach someone to care.

2. Write an advert worth responding to

Here's the thing most business owners forget: you're not posting a job description. You're competing for the attention of people who are probably already employed, reasonably content, and not actively looking.

Use the classic marketing formula - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action - and treat this advert with the same care you'd give a sales campaign.

• Grab attention with a headline that stands out from the hundreds of other listings
• Sell the role by leading with benefits, not just duties
• Sell your company - talented people want to work somewhere they're proud of
• Keep it concise - this is a teaser, not a contract. Your goal is intrigue, not exhaustion
• Ask them to do something beyond just sending a CV - answer a specific question, or submit a short covering letter explaining why they're the right fit. Anyone who can't be bothered almost certainly isn't

One practical note: have someone else proof it for discriminatory language before it goes live. It's an easy thing to miss and an expensive mistake to make.

3. Go where the right people are

Think about where your ideal candidate spends their time - even if they're not yet thinking about moving jobs.

• Internal referrals first - offer your team a bonus for recommending someone who gets hired and stays
• Local colleges and universities - Solent University and City of Portsmouth College are excellent sources if you're open to developing talent
• Trade and industry publications if you need sector-specific expertise
• LinkedIn for professional and management roles
• Your own network - customers, suppliers, and professional contacts often know great people
• Your website and social media - post the role, talk about your culture, and get your team sharing it
• Local job boards and Hampshire-based recruitment agencies for roles where geography matters

The wider you cast your net at this stage, the more choice you'll have later. And more choice means better decisions.

4. Deselect - don't just select

This is the step most businesses skip, and it's the most valuable one.

The goal isn't to find one good CV in a pile. It's to filter a large group down to a small number of genuinely strong candidates before you spend any significant time on them. Think of it as a funnel and let the candidates do most of the work for you.

Here's how the process works:

Stage one - Initial application: Ask for more than a CV. A short covering letter, a specific question answered, or a brief explanation of why they want this role. Anyone who ignores this instruction is immediately out.

Stage two - A simple task: Email the valid applicants and ask them to complete something small but telling a short video introduction, a voice message, or a written response to a scenario. It shouldn't take more than 20–30 minutes. Anyone who doesn't bother, or who does it badly, self-selects out.

Stage three - Group video call: Invite the remaining candidates to a single Zoom session. Use it to sell your business and the role properly once, to everyone, rather than repeating yourself in individual calls. Then ask each candidate to introduce themselves for two to three minutes. Ask two or three questions. Watch who's engaged, who's prepared, whom you'd want representing your business. Record it so you can review it later, and have a colleague on the call to get a second perspective. Deselect anyone who doesn't impress.

Stage four - CV review: Now, and only now, read the CVs. You should be down to a handful of people you'd genuinely consider interviewing. Compare what you've seen on screen with what's on paper and create your shortlist.

Done well, this process costs you a few hours and saves you from wasting days on the wrong people.

5. Interview for attitude, not just ability

Skills can be learned. Attitude is far harder to change. When it comes to interviewing, aim to recruit 80% for attitude and 20% for skills.

Structure your questions around the profile you built in Step 1. Find out what matters to them, where they want to be in five years, what they value in a workplace, how they handle pressure or conflict. If you can genuinely help them achieve their goals, they'll invest in helping you achieve yours.

For senior roles, use a multi-stage process:

1. A site visit - let them see your business in action and meet some of the team. It's another chance to sell, and it tells you a lot about their reaction to what they see
2. A formal interview exploring their experience, values and thinking in depth
3. An informal social - for key appointments, meeting their partner matters. People rarely make significant career moves without talking it through at home. Win that conversation, and you're far more likely to win them

Before the final interview, run a behavioural profile on your preferred candidates. It often surfaces things worth exploring that a standard interview wouldn't catch.

6. Make the offer - and mean it

You've invested real time and energy in finding this person. Don't lose them now through hesitation.

If you've reached the end of this process and you have a clear first choice, make the offer within 24 hours. Ideally, call them the same afternoon they leave your office. A quick offer signals confidence and enthusiasm. A slow one signals doubt - and they'll feel it.

When you call, pay attention to how they respond. Someone who is genuinely delighted is your person. Someone who sounds hesitant or says they need to think it over is giving you important information. A keen second choice will often outperform a reluctant first choice; don't be afraid to go back to your shortlist.

7. Lock it in and set them up to succeed

Once they've verbally accepted, move fast on the paperwork. A slow formal offer gives them time to doubt themselves - or to consider the counteroffer their current employer will almost certainly make.

A few non-negotiables at this stage:

• Check references by phone - a conversation reveals far more than a written response ever will
• Complete right-to-work document checks before day one
• Build a proper induction - a 13-week structured onboarding programme gives new hires the best possible chance of success and dramatically reduces early attrition

And one final thought: if you go through this entire process and nobody quite makes the grade, don't hire anyway. Start again. The cost of hiring the wrong person is always higher than the cost of waiting for the right one.

One more thing

The biggest shift I see in business owners who get good at recruiting is this: they start before they're desperate. When you recruit from a place of calm rather than crisis, you make better decisions.

If you'd like help putting this process into practice in your business - or want to talk through where your current approach is letting you down get in touch: kevinstansfield@actioncoach.com