Council Post: Nine Tips To Conduct An Effective Trial Period For A Potential New Hire

The goal of any recruitment effort is to find a candidate who would be a good fit for the company. This would mean that the hire would not only be proficient in their role, but would also do well within the specific company culture. But beyond an interview, how can leaders ensure new hires will be the right choice?

One strategy is to give the potential new employee a trial period during which you are able to evaluate their performance and personality. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for how to conduct an effective trial period and ensure you’re setting the candidate up for success.

1. Provide Dedicated Mentorship

If your new hire can’t perform up to your expected standard with a dedicated mentor, then they likely won’t cut it as an independent team member either. Have the new hire’s mentor provide you with weekly updates on the general performance and progress of the mentee. If the mentor has flagged them as a poor fit for the company, step in and take a closer look. It may be that their talents are poorly matched to a mentor that isn’t well-suited for them. But if they consistently perform under your expectations, then they might be worth passing on. – Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions

2. Be Specific With Your Time Frame

Most trial periods last 90 days, but yours could be different based on a variety of factors. That said, the trial period should have expectations that the employee needs to meet in order to move on. They’re typically rather basic, like how to clock in, access company email and so forth, but some of them are job-specific. They should be able to demonstrate the ability to complete the basic job responsibilities within a defined time frame. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

3. Have Them Work Remotely

Before fully onboarding your new hires, you can give them tasks that they can carry out from home or through remote work. This will give you the chance to see the kind of work they do and to decide whether you’d like to take them on as full-term employees. It’s important to compensate them, as well as to answer any questions they have, just as if they were already working with you. Giving your new hires tasks helps them dive right in and allows you to see how they cope. It doesn’t have to be rigorous or the same amount of work they’ll eventually have to deal with full time. Simply get your new hires started and you should soon get an idea of how well they fit in your culture. – Blair Williams, MemberPress

4. Assign Them A Big Project

Our trial periods are 30 days for certain positions to ensure the person will be the right fit for the position and our small, close-knit culture. I give this person a 30-day-long project to complete and then I (along with my senior team) will evaluate how that person performed. If this person is the right fit, then I will extend a long-term temporary or full-time position. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

5. Give Them Their Role’s Tasks Right Away

Throw them straight into their role! Of course, you’ll want to pair that with quality training and guidance from leaders so that they are set up for success, but don’t give them 30 days of training with no application and then think they are ready to get out of the trial period. They need to be doing the tasks alongside their training so they can apply, receive feedback and have the opportunity to grow and improve from the start. – Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors

6. Set Clear Expectations

For your trial period to run smoothly, it’s crucial to set clear expectations with all hires. They need to know what they’re up for and that their position isn’t definite. Instead, they need to prove their skills and character at work to get the job. Team members should be well aware of their duties, roles and responsibilities in their new position. Neither party can expect to succeed and improve if they don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Training is the perfect time to set your expectations and give your new hire time to process what they need to do so they can become a permanent employee. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

7. Be Flexible With Open-Ended Opportunities

Start with small freelance projects that can quickly scale up depending on their natural ability and their willingness to adapt. Often, you find some candidates who would easily transition into a full-time role within a few weeks while others might require a few months. In many other companies, if the candidate can’t keep up within 30 days, they’re unable to continue the program. However, for some job seekers, they’re just looking for an opportunity that utilizes their skill set and, at the same time, accommodates their learning pace. If you’re able to be more fluid with human resources, it’s best to offer flexibility with how the trial period is structured too. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress

8. Make Sure You’re Communicating Consistently

I believe that the key to nailing trial periods for your new hires starts with how you communicate. We have weekly meetings with all of our employees, not just new hires. But when we do bring on someone new, we meet with them via Zoom several times a week for the first couple of weeks to make sure we can answer questions, view their progress and generally guide them in the right direction. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC

9. Hire Them As Interns First

I always prefer hiring employees as interns first. That way it’s easy to identify if they are a good fit for the company. In doing so, I like to engage them in small projects before I let them handle the bigger ones. This gives me the opportunity to examine their problem-solving and decision-making skills. I also get a chance to know their efficiency as team players, which is very important for the overall success of the company. – Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite

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