6 Ways to Hire That Busy Entrepreneurs Love

Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA!

Today's Question: What's your favorite way to hire?

The answers below are provided by members of FounderSociety, an invitation-only organization comprised of ambitious startup founders and business owners.

1. Trial Before Hire

We love having people complete short tasks related to their work before we hire them. For example, for a communications role, we ask candidates to find a reporter who they think would write about us and draft a pitch. This allows us to get a sense of their work before we hire.

— Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli

2. Pop Quizzes

We've found the best way to vet prospects is to offer them a short quiz that can be completed in under 30 minutes. It's normally 5-10 questions that help us gauge their analytical thinking, their personality, and their contextual understanding. The questions never have a single, correct answer, and by utilizing scenarios that are applicable to our own organization, we can learn a lot about how these potential employees might function at our company.

— Justin Moodley, LASANAN

3. Talk to Everyone

I've hired several people from local coffee shops and restaurants. Many college students work these kinds of part-time jobs while they're completing degrees. Getting to know the person serving me coffee tells me a lot about how they value customer service and work ethic. This isn't a way of mass hiring, but it's effective for finding diamonds in the rough.

— Tony Banta, Live Mercury, Inc.

4. Tap Into Your Network

Referrals are a great way to hire because the new candidates come pre-vetted from trusted colleagues or friends.

— Arry Yu, GiftStarter

5. Check Craigslist

Craigslist offers some of the lowest rates, and almost every qualified person reads the job listings. This allows me to reach a wide audience at a low cost.

— Ajmal Saleem, Suprex Learning

6. Determine Value Add

At AlignedSigns.com, we first have the person who will oversee the new hire go through the pile of resumes and take out anyone who doesn't meet the criteria. Then, they go through the pile again and identify people they think they can learn something from – people who can add value in more ways than one.

— Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs